SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Bennett scored 10 seconds into the third period, Brad Marchand had two assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Wednesday night to sweep a two-game season series.
Anton Lendl and Carter Verhaeg also scored for Florida, which has won six of its last seven games. Daniel Tarasov made 27 saves for the Panthers, including a breakaway hit on Kings’ Trevor Moore with less than five minutes remaining to preserve a one-goal lead.
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Joel Armia and Kevin Fiala scored for Los Angeles, which is 0-2-2 in its past four games. The Kings’ four-game losing streak echoes the decline throughout the season. From October 11 to October 18, the Kings’ record was also 0 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.
Anton Forsberg stopped 25 shots for the Kings. Almia scored the only goal of the first period when Fiala made it 3-2 with 15:12 left when a Florida clearance attempt bounced off his calf and past Tarasov.
Los Angeles had a chance to tie the game in the final minutes when Florida’s Anton Lendl was called up high with 3:05 left. The Kings managed just one field goal on the ensuing power play — about half of which came on a two-man advantage after Forsberg was benched for an extra attacker — and the Panthers held on from there.
Bennett’s goal gave Florida a 3-1 lead and tied for the third-fastest start to the season.
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On October 11, Kirill Marchenko scored 7 seconds into the second quarter for Columbus against Minnesota; on November 26, Jackson Lacombe scored 9 seconds into the second quarter for Anaheim against Vancouver. On December 9, Connor McDavid scored for Edmonton 10 seconds into the third period against Buffalo.
Next
Kings: Visit Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
Panthers: Host Carolina on Friday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
