LOS ANGELES –– A patchwork lineup of Kings triumphed against one of the NHL’s top teams, the Florida Panthers, 3-2 in a shootout at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.
Forward Rasmus Kupari and winger Martin Frk each scored a goal for the Kings. Jonathan Quick made 28 saves in his 700th career game. Forwards Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore converted in the shootout, with Moore netting the winner.
Center Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Brandon Montour tallied for Florida. Aleksander Barkov connected in the shootout. Spencer Knight stopped 34 shots. The Panthers had won five straight games. They remain in first place in the Atlantic Division.
“It was a very big win, for a lot of reasons. Obviously, the points, but more importantly for the belief system” coach Todd McLellan said. “That was something that was in question heading into the game with the number of bodies we had missing.”
In an odd bit of symmetry, the Kings entered Sunday’s game with seven players on injured reserve and an eighth on his way, then finished the game a man short due an injury to defenseman Tobias Bjornfot in overtime. In their 4-1 victory over Florida on Dec. 17, the Panthers were missing seven players due to COVID protocols, three more as a result of injuries and, despite a spate of callups, were only able to dress 16 skaters.
While not injured, linemates Adrian Kopitar and Kempe have been absent from the scoresheet of late. In their last nine games, the duo has accumulated just two combined points, both assists by Kopitar.
“They have to pick their share up a little bit. They don’t have to score all the time, just their overall game, and I think on the power play in particular,” McLellan said Thursday. “They’re world-class players, and we have world-class players on the power play, who need to get it done. It’s as simple as that.”
The Kings had also gone scoreless on the power play in their last five games and through 59:28 of Sunday’s game. During the same span that saw Florida score 10 power-play goals, the Kings were the only team in the NHL not to have scored any between March 3 and the start of Sunday’s games.
That was until the dying gasps of regulation Sunday, when Martin Frk’s thunderous slap shot from behind the left faceoff dot knotted the game with 32 seconds to play. It was the Kings’ first power-play goal in half a dozen games and a dozen opportunities.
Frk suited up for the first time since Jan. 8. He has recorded a goal in two of the three games he has played for the Kings this season while ranking second in goals in the American Hockey League with 31.
“That was huge and that was so typical of him. That’s why (Frk) is getting paid,” Kupari, who has played with Frk at both levels, said.
The Kings pressed for a tying goal in the third period but their efforts were abated by Knight, who has allowed three goals in his last two starts since a month-long stint in the minors. Florida afforded the Kings an opportunity when winger Jonathan Huberdeau, who ranks second in scoring league-wide, elbowed winger Alex Iafallo. That illegal hit led to a scrum, a Kings power play and the equalizer that sent the game to overtime.
The Panthers took their first lead 3:44 into the second period when Barkov combined strength and savvy along the wall to generate a shot attempt that glanced off winger Patric Hornqvist to Montour. The former Ducks defenseman swept the puck in authoritatively as he fell to the ice.
Florida had drawn even a mere 43 seconds into the middle frame when a turnover following a faceoff sent Luostarinen the other way into space. As defenseman Sean Durzi, who later recorded an assist, caught up to him, he flicked an innocuous wrist shot along the ice that improbably beat Quick between his pads for a shorthanded marker.
Quick had been sharp in a first period in which the Kings were out-shot 11-6, including a play where he made a toe save on a followup attempt despite having his movement restricted by a pile of humanity in the crease.
Quick, who has logged 700 regular-season games, 85 playoff games and earned seven caps for Team USA made every effort to shun the spotlight. He did, however, admit to thinking back to his very first NHL game, an 8-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 6, 2007.
“A few years ago, back when [the arena] was called Staples,” Quick joked. “Obviously, it crossed my mind, but like I said, we had a game to play so that was obviously the focus.”
The Kings initiated the scoring 11:50 into the game when Kupari stick-handled his way across the offensive zone before squeezing a backhand shot in through the short side. Center Quinton Byfield’s assist was the third of his career and defenseman Jordan Spence’s helper was his first in the NHL.
Kupari had not played since Jan. 18 and had not scored since Dec. 5. All five Kings on the scoresheet Sunday had spent a significant amount of time with the AHL’s Ontario Reign this season.
“We’re one big team, I think, finally, the Reign, the Kings, we all play the game the same way. So, when they come in, it’s kind of seamless now,” McLellan said.