Kings Get Big Lift in 3-1 Win

Neither Ziggy Palffy nor Mathieu Schneider scored a goal but their return from injuries certainly helped propel the Kings to a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.

Jason Allison had a goal and an assist, and Mikko Eloranta and Adam Deadmarsh each scored for the Kings, who rode 29 saves from goaltender Felix Potvin to end a four-game winless streak in front of 17,006 at Staples Center.

In his first game back in the lineup after missing the last 14, Palffy had an assist on Allison’s first-period goal. Schneider didn’t score a point after sitting out the previous 23 games following hernia surgery on Nov. 15.

“Anytime that you are missing great players like that out of your lineup, it definitely hurts,” Allison said. “We’re a much better team with them in the lineup. They mean a lot to us. We’re going to win a lot of games with them playing.

“Since I’ve been here, we really haven’t been healthy at all. Ziggy, Adam [Deadmarsh] and myself haven’t played too many games together. And Schneid’s been out too. That’s going to hurt a team. I think good things are going to start happening for us now that they are back.”

With his team scheduled to begin a five-game trip Saturday, which will take the Kings from New York to San Jose over eight days, Coach Andy Murray would have loved to get off to a fast start.

But the up-and-down Kings did just the opposite.

Florida had seven of the game’s first eight shots on goal and dominated play early. After killing off the Kings’ first power-play opportunity, the Panthers took a 1-0 lead when rookie Kristian Huselius scored his 15th goal of the season 15 minutes 48 seconds into the first period.

Huselius, one of the top first-year players in the league, was able to score, thanks to great efforts from teammates Bill Lindsay and Kevyn Adams, who helped keep the puck deep in the Kings’ zone.

After falling behind by a goal, the Kings’ play picked up with Palffy and Allison leading the way. Los Angeles tied the score at 1-1 with two minutes remaining in the period when Allison scored his ninth goal of the season.

With Huselius doing his best to stop him, Allison finished the play by carrying the puck from behind the net to in front of Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo, where he missed a shot before knocking in his own rebound before falling face-first on the ice.

As if they just used the opening 20 minutes as a warm-up, the Kings had a lot more life in the second period. Eloranta got things going when he ripped through a check from Florida defenseman Bret Hedican against the right wall at the blue line and then outhustled center Viktor Kozlov for a rebound goal four minutes into the period.

Instead of resting after Eloranta’s third goal of the season gave them a 2-1 lead, the Kings maintained their attack.

For most of the period, they kept the puck in the Florida zone, and if not for some great saves by Luongo, the Panthers would have found themselves down by several goals.

Luongo ended up making 20 saves in the period to keep the Panthers in the game at the second intermission. It was the most shots on goal in a period this season for the Kings.

In the third, the Kings were finally able to add an insurance score when Deadmarsh took the team lead in goals with his 14th 8:53 into the period. Deadmarsh’s score was the Kings’ 36th power-play goal of the season, which is third in the NHL.

“We played a pretty solid game defensively tonight,” Murray said. “It was one of those games where Felix just had to be good and he didn’t have to be great. That’s what you want for your goaltender.”

For Palffy, it was just good to be on the ice again.

“Getting back on my game is a big thing,” said Palffy, who had 16:50 of playing time against the Panthers. “They played a physical game and I was fine.... The key was that we played so well defensively and we stuck together.”

The bad news for the Kings--who were 7-4-4 for 18 points in December, which tied their second-most points ever scored in the month--is that Andreas Lilja and Eloranta suffered knee injuries and had to leave the game. They will be examined today, according to Murray.