Key players keep picking up pace to help Panthers beat Kings

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Dec 17, 2025

Published in Hockey

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MIAMI — Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett continued their recent offensive surges to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida improves to 18-13-2 and have gone 6-1-1 in their past eight games. Also, with 38 points, the Panthers are now tied with the Montreal Canadiens for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot nearing the midway point of the season. Just two weeks ago, Florida was in last place in the conference standings.

Lundell, Verhaeghe and Bennett all scored their 11th goals of the season Wednesday.

Lundell tied the game at 1-1 2:14 into the second period, deflecting in an Aaron Ekblad point shot past Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg on the power play. It was his fifth goal in his past seven games and ninth point in his past 10 games.

Verhaeghe then gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead 7:04 into the middle frame on a wrist shot from up close with traffic in front of the net following a missed shot attempt from Jeff Petry. The speedy 30-year-old winger has scored nine goals in his past 11 games — including seven in his past eight games following the birth of his son Rory — after finding the back of the net only twice through his first 20 games of the season.

And Bennett pushed Florida’s lead up to 3-1 just 10 seconds into the third period by deflecting in a shot attempt from Brad Marchand on the opening shift of the final frame.

Marchand had a pair of assists for his 10th multi-point game of the season.

It was enough to back goaltender Daniil Tarasov, who made 27 saves — including stopping a pair of Trevor Moore breakaways — for his fourth win in his past six starts. The two goals Tarasov gave up: A Joel Armia tip-in on a power play 13:39 into the first period and a Kevin Fiala goal 4:48 into the third when Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling tried to clear the puck from the Panthers’ defensive zone but it ricocheted off Fiala and past Tarasov.

The Panthers continue their three-game homestand with back-to-back games against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

This and that

— Forward Evan Rodrigues did not play the final 14:44 with what Panthers coach Paul Maurice said was a lower-body injury. Maurice said the Panthers “don’t think it’s too significant” but Rodrigues nevertheless will be evaluated further on Thursday.

— The Panthers went 3 for 4 on the penalty kill — including one in the final three minutes up by just a goal and the Kings pulling their goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage. Florida has killed 29 of 31 penalties in the month of December.

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