By GEORGE RICHARDS The Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Kings will need to grind their way to wins at times to keep pace in a tight Pacific Division race, and they were up to the task Friday night.

Adrian Kempe had a short-handed goal and an assist, Pheonix Copley made a career-high 45 saves and the Kings held on to beat the Florida Panthers, 4-3, for their third straight win.

Anze Kopitar, Viktor Arvidsson and Matt Roy also scored for the Kings, who led 3-0 midway through the second period.

Ryan Lomberg and Brandon Montour scored in the second to get the Panthers within 3-2, but Roy’s late empty-netter sealed Florida’s third straight loss.

“We showed big-time character,” Copley said. “They weathered the storm and then we got our game going.”

Carter Verhaeghe added a last-minute goal for the Panthers and Alex Lyon had 29 saves while making his fourth consecutive start in place of the injured Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Kings scored twice within a span of four-plus minutes toward the end of the first period, going ahead 2-0 when Kempe connected on an odd-man rush while killing a Florida power play.

The Kings got their second short-handed goal of the game from Arvidsson to make it 3-0 at 9:58 of the second period.

“We were sluggish in the first and probably should have kept it at two (goals down) to have a chance,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Our guys were frustrated with ones down in front they could not quite get a handle on but they did not quit.”

Florida made a charge with Lomberg scoring off a backhanded shot from the slot with 6:37 left in the second. Montour followed about three minutes later with a hard slap shot from the left circle.

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“Good teams, when the momentum swings as much as it did tonight, find ways to win. That’s what we did,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “From a negative side, we were up 3-0 and a couple of quick goals put us on our heels. They are a tough team to play.”

The Panthers temporarily lost top defenseman Gustav Forsling to injury in the second period when his skate was taken out by the stick blade of Alex Turcotte as the two went into the corner.

Forsling lost his footing and slammed hard into the boards, apparently injuring his left leg. He had to be helped off the ice but returned in the third period.

Turcotte was assessed a 5-minute major for boarding.

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The Kings play at Tampa Bay on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT.