As what has become expected of this Los Angeles Kings team, they were able to bounce back in a big way after an embarassing 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins to win on Wednesday night 2-1 over the Florida Panthers.
There was a notable difference right from the puck drop as the Kings played with a lot more energy and put pressure on the Panthers. It didn't amount to any goals in the first or second period but the Kings were defintely controlling the action.
The third period the Kings were able to finally get past Spencer Knight and not only tied the game up but would eventually take the lead and secure the win. These are some of the takeaways from the Los Angeles Kings win on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles Kings go with 12 forwards, 6 defensemen against the Panthers
After the Penguins game, it felt like almost a certainty that Jim Hiller was going to shuffle the lines and that was pretty much confirmed on Tuesday during practice. In the game against the Panthers, the Kings not only had new lines and pairings but elected to shift from their 11 forwards, 7 defensemen roster to a more traditional 12 forwards and 6 defensemen.
After the game, Jim Hiller described the thought process on what went into that decision, according to Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider:
"It was fine, but it was interesting, because right before the game started, I was saying to the guys, okay, who am I doubling up tonight, what’s my order, but easy night for me, I didn’t think here tonight. It was good, Akil was good, fourth line was good, worked out just fine. I wanted to get Akil in and I wanted a big, strong line in Sammy, Lewie and Jeanno."
It will be interesting if this is a one time thing for this game or if the Kings keep this breakout moving forward.
Samuel Helenius scores first NHL career goal in big spot
For most of the game, the Los Angeles Kings were definitely playing with more energy but it wasn't necessarily amounting to great scoring chances. The Florida Panthers did a good job keeping the Kings in check for most of the game and it wasn't until Samuel Helenius was able to get the Kings on the board.
Helenius was a second round pick by the Kings in the 2021 NHL Draft and has appeared in 25 games this season after being called up at the beginning of November. He hasn't played a lot of minutes this season but certainly made an impact against the Panthers on Wednesday night.
Darcy Kuemper gets back on track for LA Kings
The Los Angeles Kings goaltender has been excellent for most of January but struggled in his last start against the Seattle Kraken. He would give up three goals on only 21 shots but bounced back against the Panthers on Wednesday night.
In this game he would give up only one goal, which was a power play goal in the second period to Evan Rodrigues, but other than that was locked in and helped keep the game within reach. The Kings weren't able to muster many scoring chances of their own in the first two periods and Kuemper's performance was a big reason they were able to come back in the third.