Kings continue tough 4-game East Coast trip in Florida

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The Kings volition wrapper up the Florida information of their roadworthy travel successful a gathering with the Panthers connected Thursday, coming disconnected a arguable 3-2 overtime nonaccomplishment to the Tampa Bay Lightning connected Tuesday.

Florida is tied for the second-best points percent successful the NHL, and arsenic the standings work entering Wednesday’s action, that could mean that the Kings volition person played the apical 4 teams successful the NHL by points percent connected this trip.

Kicking disconnected the four-game travel successful “Champa Bay” – a operation spawned from the Lightning’s back-to-back Stanley Cups and the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl triumph – the Kings extended their constituent streak to 3 games by reaching overtime. They were denied a 2nd constituent successful portion by a non-call connected a imaginable travel of winger Viktor Arvidsson that sent the Lightning disconnected successful modulation for Mathieu Joseph’s game-winning goal. Arvidsson and goalie Jonathan Quick protested the non-call, but to nary avail.

Further compounding the Kings’ misfortunes was that winger Andreas Athanasiou sustained an wounded and did not instrumentality to the game. He has six points successful 11 games this season, having been constricted by a anterior wounded and a stint connected the COVID protocol-related lack list. Conversely, halfway Blake Lizotte has been activated from the COVID list, and halfway Jaret Anderson-Dolan was reassigned to the American Hockey League’s Ontario Reign.

The Kings were already down different important subordinate against Tampa aft defenseman Alex Edler suffered a superior limb wounded successful a triumph implicit Minnesota connected Saturday.

“He was the 1 of the champion (defensemen) we had each season, but I deliberation contiguous we did a bully job,” said Olli Maatta, who assumed Edler’s presumption successful the lineup. “I thought we had a accidental to triumph this game. It’s benignant of frustrating to suffer that way, but I deliberation there’s immoderate bully things that we tin instrumentality from this.”

One clear-cut affirmative from the game, arsenic good arsenic the Kings’ season, arsenic a full has been Quick’s resurgence betwixt the pipes. His tremendous halfway and lower-body spot person not faded with age, and person been connected afloat show of late. Kings Coach Todd McLellan said successful his 3 seasons with the Kings helium did not spot immoderate changes successful Quick’s approach, grooming oregon technique, alternatively it was mostly a substance of the squad successful beforehand of him allowing him to again scope his afloat potential.

That potency has manifested successful his numbers, and successful the proportionality of starts helium has garnered, 16 of 27 frankincense far, including 3 consecutive nods. The program heading into the play was to either divided starts with Cal Petersen oregon possibly adjacent spot the lion’s stock spell to the younger Petersen, who signed a three-year declaration hold successful the offseason.

If Quick were to support his existent numbers, they would correspond a career-best successful prevention percent and travel wrong 3 one-hundredths of a constituent of his champion goals-against average. Those figures person been trending downward during December, successful which helium has gone 3-0-1 with a .955 prevention percent and 1.24 goals-against average.

The Panthers person been buoyed successful portion by 8 consecutive wins and points successful 10 consecutive games to commencement the season. They’ve continued to execute reasonably good since contempt a fig of cumbersome roadblocks, though they person mislaid their past 2 games, including an 8-2 drubbing by the visiting Ottawa Senators connected Tuesday.

Joel Quenneville, who has the second-most wins of immoderate manager successful NHL history, resigned arsenic portion of the fallout from a ungraded involving his erstwhile team, the Chicago Blackhawks. He was replaced by Andrew Brunette, who has since guided Florida to an 11-6-4 mark.

Top halfway Aleksander Barkov, whose benignant is akin to that of Kings skipper Anze Kopitar, has played successful conscionable 16 of the Panthers’ 27 games owed to a genu wounded sustained connected Nov. 16. He returned to enactment Dec. 7 but exited the crippled against St. Louis and was placed connected injured reserve again this week.

Winger Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Panthers successful scoring and No. 1 defenseman Aaron Ekblad has rebounded from a breached near limb past play to crook successful his astir prolific run to date. Former Vezina Trophy victor Sergei Bobrovsky and rookie Spencer Knight person manned the Florida net.