“I’m playing with my food here a little bit,” the Florida Panthers’ veteran coach said.

Doughty plays about 24 minutes in his season debut but the Kings fall, 3-0, and have lost seven of their past nine games, scoring just 15 goals in that stretch.

Now, with the lines taking on more of a traditional look, Maurice decided to keep Samoskevich in the top six, moving him to the left side and slotting Matthew Tkachuk back on Bennett’s right, where he’s spent much of his tree seasons in Florida.

With the Panthers earning nine seconds of a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period, Aleksander Barkov made the most out of that limited time by winning a faceoff draw in the offensive zone, going to the net and scoring to make it 2-0 at 4:43.

Meanwhile, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky posted his second shutout of the season, 46th of his career, and first ever against the Kings by stopping all 29 shots he faced from Los Angeles (26-16-6). This included six high-danger saves, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The Florida Panthers looked like they enjoyed their first game in Sunrise in a couple weeks. Hosting the Los Angeles Kings, Florida jumped out to an early lead and clamped down on the advantage, skating to a 3-0 victory.

The Florida Panthers will celebrate some milestone nights on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings. Not only will Dmitry Kulikov play in his 1,000th NHL game, but Paul Maurice will coach in his 1,900th game.

THROUGH GAMES OF WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2025

Call it a mixed bag for the Florida Panthers on their West Coast trip. The Panthers went 2-2-0 in their four games out west, beating the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday, falling to the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Wednesday, winning against the San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday and losing to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 on Sunday.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich has been playing quite well and may have earned himself a longer look in the top six

The Florida Panthers had a late night flight into Las Vegas out of San Jose on Saturday and, less than 17 hours after getting to their hotel, have a game against the Golden Knights. Regardless, the Panthers should have plenty of juice when it comes to playing in Vegas.

After backing up Sergei Bobrovsky in San Jose, Spencer Knight will likely get the nod in net against Vegas. Owning a 9-7-1 record with a .907 save percentage, the 23-year-old has been in the zone as of late, going 4-2-0 with a .935 save percentage since Dec. 22.