Panthers Get Big Comeback Win Over Kings
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SUNRISE (CBSMiami/AP) – The Florida Panthers may have finally broken out of their recent funk.
Brandon Pirri scored with 3:05 remaining to lift the Florida Panthers over the struggling Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Thursday night.
Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, and Roberto Luongo stopped 29 shots.
Pirri grabbed a loose puck in the left circle and fired the puck past Jonathan Quick. He scored for the fourth consecutive game and the sixth in his past seven.
The Panthers have won their past two games and Luongo beat the Kings for the first time in nine games.
Marian Gaborik and Jamie McBain scored for the Kings, and Quick made 17 saves.
The Kings lost their third straight game and seven of their past nine. Los Angeles has dropped nine of its past 11 road games, and remained tied for the fewest road wins in the NHL with Buffalo and Edmonton.
Trailing 2-1, Bjugstad tied the game at 2 after he picked off an errant pass by defenseman Jake Muzzin deep in the Kings zone and rifled a shot past Quick's glove at 7:26 of the third.
Gaborik broke a 1-all tie with a power-play goal 2:19 into the third period. Anze Kopitar grabbed a rebound, passed it back to Gaborik in the left circle, and Gaborik beat Luongo on the short side to make the score 2-1.
Gaborik recorded his team-leading 16th goal, but the first in the past seven games.
Barkov gave Florida a 1-0 lead on his goal in the first. Brad Boyes passed across to Barkov in the right circle. His slap shot hit Quick's pad and went up into the net at 10:39. Barkov has nine points in his last 10 games played.
The Kings tied it at 1 on McBain's goal. His shot from the top of the right circle caromed off the crossbar and into the net at 15:48 in the first.
NOTES: Gaborik has scored in five of his last eight games against the Panthers. ... McBain's goal was his 100th career point. ... Panthers D Willie Mitchell, who was with the Kings for the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup championship seasons, missed the game with an upper-body injury.