Saturday Florida Hockey Round-Up: Bolts, Cats Both Need Extra Time

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vladislav Gavrikov scored 25 seconds into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings snapped the Tampa Bay Lightning’s five-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory Saturday night.

Steven Stamkos scored twice in the final 4:34 of regulation for Tampa Bay, tying it with 45.8 seconds left while the Lightninghad a 6-on-5 advantage. But Gavrikov promptly buried his sixth goal of the season after the Kings executed a nifty set play to begin the 3-on-3 period, allowing the defenseman to break in alone on Andrei Vasilevskiy early in OT.

Trevor Moore scored his 26th goal and Mikey Anderson ended his 54-game goal drought as Los Angeles won its season-best fourth straight home game by knocking off surging Tampa Bay, which had lost just once in March.

After a midseason lull that resulted in coach Todd McLellan’s firing, the Kings are closing in on their third consecutive playoff berth with increasing confidence from eight wins in their last 12 games.

“In the room, we know what we have and how good we can be if we do it the right way consistently and together,” Anderson said. “We’ve beat some good teams this year. Obviously, if we have things going the right way, we like our chances against anyone. They’ve had a lot of success the last couple years, so they’re a good team to test yourself against. They know how to win, so being able to come out and play that well against them, we’re moving the right way.”

Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Kings, who completed a perfect three-game homestand with their fifth win in seven games overall.

Tampa Bay, which leads the NHL in power-play scoring percentage, got all three of its goals with a man advantage. Los Angeles has the NHL’s top penalty-killing unit, and coach Jim Hiller wasn’t disappointed by its effort despite the Lightning’s success.

“I thought we did a pretty good job on it until the end, but all they need is basically one second, one seam (for a) one-timer,” Hiller said. “We’ve seen that goal over and over again by those players. We did a good job on the PK. That wasn’t really the issue. They executed when they had a chance, and they buried.”

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist and Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots for the Lightning, who had won the first three games of their five-game West Coast trip by a combined 14-7.

“They’re a really good defensive team, so they don’t give you much,” Stamkos said of the Kings. “They’ve always been a good, structured team. That’s just the style that they play, and that’s why they’re always in the mix and give teams trouble. So sometimes you’ve got to rely on your power play, and we did that tonight to get us a point.”

Stamkos extended his points streak to eight games when he made it 3-2 in the final second before the expiration of a power play. He added the tying slap shot for his 29th goal of the season, capping a prolonged stretch of pressure.

NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov extended his points streak to 13 games with the primary assist on Stamkos’ tying goal.

“Late in the power play, we stuck with it, and great players make great plays,” said Victor Hedman, whose slap shot shattered Trevor Lewis’ stick moments before the tying goal. “In the 6-on-5, we had opportunities to get some goals, obviously caught a break with a broken stick, and that’s when seams open up and we shoot the puck. You get it in (Kucherov’s) hands, he’s going to find the open man, and he did.”

Los Angeles scored in the first period when Quinton Byfield intercepted Matt Dumba’s clearing attempt and Anze Kopitar eventually set up a redirect for Kempe’s 22nd goal.

Point evened it with his 41st goal of the season on a power play 5.8 seconds before the first intermission.

Moore put the Kings back ahead early in the second with a rebound tap-in. The goal by Moore — the undrafted Thousand Oaks native who improbably leads the Kings in goals — gave him 49 points this season, setting a new career high.

Anderson scored only his second goal of the season early in the third period, keeping the puck on an odd-man rush and beating Vasilevskiy cleanly for the sturdy defenseman’s first goal since last Oct. 27.

The game was played on the 30th anniversary of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record-breaking 802nd goal, which he scored for the Kings at the Forum.

UP NEXT

Lightning: At Anaheim on Sunday night.

Kings: At Vancouver on Monday night to open a four-game Canadian trip.

NEW YORK (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored twice in regulation and added the decisive goal in the shootout, Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Saturday night.

Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead 3-2 with his 31st goal at 15:52 of the third but Panarin knotted the contest at 16:35 with his second of the game and team-leading 43rd of the season. He has five goals in his last two games.

Matthew Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers, who lost their fourth straight game.

Adam Fox also scored for the Rangers and Vincent Trocheck had three assists.

“It was a good effort by us,” said Fox, who extended his points streak to seven games. ”The crowd got into it. It was a big win … They are a good team, on top of the league for a reason.”

During the shootout, Panarin beat Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky with a high shot. Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers and Sam Reinhart scored for Florida. Shesterkin denied former Ranger Vladimir Tarasenko to cement the victory for the Rangers, who moved ahead of the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins lost to Philadelphia3-2 on Saturday.

It was the first time in three games this season the Rangers beat the Panthers, who are battling the Bruins for the Atlantic Division lead.

“They are a good team, hard to play against,” Panarin said. “Last few games have been great for us. We’re playing consistently.”

Bobrovsky finished with 34 saves including four in overtime.

“This game was good. We played hard,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. ”Sergei made a couple of big saves. We were anchored right. Our leadership was fantastic.”

The Rangers have won six of their last nine games against the Panthers and are 6-1-1 in their last eight home games against Florida. New York improved to 25-9-0 overall at home this season and is 19-5-2 in its last 26 games.

Shesterkin also made four saves in overtime and improved to 10-3-1 in his last 14 games. He also reached the 30-win mark for the third straight season.

“It was a great game. It came down to a shootout,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. ”It’s always good to get that extra point.”

Tkachuk opened the scoring at 8:18 of the first, tipping Josh Mahura’s shot past Shesterkin. Luostarinen made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the second on a setup by Reinhart, who leads the Panthers with 80 points.

Fox narrowed the deficit on the power play at 6:22 of the second before Panarin scored at 8:23 of the middle period from a sharp angle to tie the game at 2.

Panarin had a hat trick in Thursday’s 5-2 win at Boston and has 99 points this season. The 32-year-old Russian forward is trying to become the first Ranger to reach 100 points since Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06 and the seventh to reach the milestone.

“He had another monster game,” Laviolette said. ”He gives his all every shift.”

Rangers rookie forward Matt Rempe played his first home game since March 11, when he was tossed from a 3-1 win over New Jersey after a high elbow on Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler. Rempe was suspended four games by the league for the hit.

Florida captain Aleksander Barkov missed the contest as did defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling and Dmitry Kulikov. Maurice was encouraged by his team’s overall effort.

“I look at it from a regulation point of view because there is no three-on-three or shootout in the playoffs,” Maurice said. “We came in on the road banged up, and I wouldn’t say riding a whole lot of confidence. And we were pretty good tonight. I’m pretty happy.”

UP NEXT:

Rangers: Hosting Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Panthers: Visiting Philadelphia on Sunday night.

(Canadian Press)