Kings Start a Florida Recount

The Kings have had many misfires over the years in Montreal, plenty of problems in Philadelphia and quite a few mismatches in Edmonton.

Funny thing, though, they’ve also had a tough time in South Florida, of all places, never winning at the Florida Panthers’ building since the franchise began play in 1993.

But the Kings scored two power-play goals Wednesday and officially erased an 0-4-3 road record against the only existing team they had never beaten away from Los Angeles.

The Kings nearly fumbled a three-goal lead but tightened defensively in the final 11 minutes of a 3-2 victory before 13,276 mostly quiet fans at Office Depot Center.

Mike Van Ryn’s goal brought Florida within a goal 8:23 into the third period, but the Panthers had only two shots the rest of the way.

“We knew that Florida would throw everything at us, and we gave up six shots in the third period,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “We played very well defensively. It was as gratifying a win as we’ve had. Those are tough games to win.”

The reasons aren’t exactly clear why the Kings have struggled at Miami Arena, where the Panthers first opened their doors, and at the Panthers’ current home in Sunrise. The Panthers have made the playoffs only three times in 10 seasons and advanced past the first round once, going to the Stanley Cup finals in 1996.

But there was no need to offer explanations or alibis after Wednesday night. The streak was stopped.

“They’ve maybe had the Kings’ number, and it’s nice for us to maybe turn the corner on it,” Murray said.

The power play was crisp and effective despite Florida Coach Mike Keenan’s protest that the penalty scale was tipped in favor of the Kings.

The Kings had eight power plays to Florida’s five.

“After two periods they had seven power plays and we had two,” Keenan said. “That’s really where the crux of our demise was. Two power plays for [us] either means we’re not working hard enough to draw them or there’s a little bit of an imbalance.”

Derek Armstrong became the first King player to score five goals this season, cruising across the slot and one-timing a crisp pass from Luc Robitaille on a power play 13:26 into the first period.

The Kings scored again on the man-advantage when Trent Klatt deflected a shot from the point by Lubomir Visnovsky 3:59 into the second period.

“That’s the importance of hockey,” Armstrong said. “Your special teams have got to be good. Our power play got a couple goals early, and that gave the team a lot of energy.”

The lead ballooned after Jon Sim broke free of Mikael Samuelsson behind the net, burst to the left side and stuffed the puck past Roberto Luongo at 11:29 of the second period. Rookie Dustin Brown was credited with an assist on the play, his first NHL point.

Murray called it the deciding shift of the game.

“To me, getting that third goal was so key tonight,” he said.

The Kings began their four-game trip by ending a quirky winless road streak against the Panthers. The rest of the road beckons -- Tampa Bay, Carolina and Washington.

“First game of a four-game trip, you want that win bad,” King defenseman Aaron Miller said. “It just kind of helps everything else out.”