LOS ANGELES (AP) ¡ª Jonathan Huberdeau pulled an imaginary
monkey off the back of Evgenii Dadonov just before the Florida Panthers went out
on the ice for
warmups
Sam
Reinhart Jersey , hoping to help his teammate get in the right frame of
mind to end a season-high goal drought of nine games.It worked.Huberdeau had the
go-ahead goal with 1:56 remaining, Dadonov scored twice, and the Florida
Panthers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Saturday for their fourth straight
win.Sam Montembeault made 24 saves to win his fourth consecutive start for the
Panthers, who are seven points behind Carolina and Columbus for an Eastern
Conference wild card with 11 games remaining. The Hurricanes and Blue Jackets
both played later Saturday night.¡°We¡¯re not dead yet, and we can make things
interesting,¡± Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. ¡°We just got to keep on winning,
and tomorrow is another big day for us.¡±Mike Hoffman had a power-play goal, and
Aleksander Barkov had three assists to extend his streak to five games for the
Panthers.Anze Kopiar and Dustin Brown each had a goal and an assist for the
Kings, who have lost 15 of 17. Brendan Leipsic also scored and Jonathan Quick
made 31 saves.Huberdeau had his shot at the near post sneak in under Quick¡¯s
skate at 18:04 after Dadonov scored from the slot on a drop pass from Huberdeau
with 6:13 left in the third period to tie it at 3-3.The Kings challenged
Huberdeau¡¯s 23rd goal of the season for goaltender interference, but the call on
the ice was upheld.Huberdeau got his fifth goal in the past five
games
Womens
Zemgus Girgensons Jersey , and the assist was his 53rd this season to tie
Viktor Kozlov for most in a season by a Panther. But Huberdeau was happier with
the role Dadonov played in giving the Panthers a chance to get the winner.¡°He¡¯s
been playing really, really well all the time,¡± Huberdeau said. ¡°Just (the) puck
hasn¡¯t been finding the way in, and this time he scored two crucial goals for us
to win the game.¡±Dadonov¡¯s recent struggles were all the more surprising given
how the Panthers have produced on offense during their winning streak, scoring
16 goals in the first three games.Barkov had been the hottest player for
Florida, and he kept up that pace by getting the three assists he needed for 200
in his NHL career. He has two goals and 11 assists in his past five games.Barkov
also became the third Panthers player with at least 80 points in a season and is
up to a career-high 81.Kopitar put the Kings ahead 3-2 at 9:44 after Leipsic
tied the game 2-2 1:05 into the third. Jeff Carter got his 700th point with the
primary assist on Leipsic¡¯s seventh goal, but let loose his frustration after
the Kings could not close out the game.¡°It¡¯s the same story every (expletive)
game here. Get a lead, give a lead up,¡± Carter said. ¡°So we can sit here and
talk about it, but we¡¯ve been talking about it for a while now.¡±NOTES:
Montembeault is 4-0-1 in five starts as a rookie. ¡ Brown scored his 93rd career
power-play
goal
http://www.officialflames.com/authentic-adidas-jaromir-jagr- jersey ,
passing Rob Blake for fifth-most in team history. ¡ Kopitar got his 20th goal, a
mark he has reached in 10 of his 13 seasons with the Kings. He also reached 30
assists for the 13th straight season.UP NEXTPanthers: Continue their four-game
road trip at Anaheim on Sunday night.Kings: Host Winnipeg on Monday night. NEW
YORK ¡ª The New York Rangers are on a roll at home ice while the Dallas Stars are
surging on the road.One of those hot streaks will take a momentary hiatus Monday
night when the Stars visit the Rangers.The Rangers are on a five-game home
winning streak since a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 21 and are 7-3-0
at Madison Square Garden. During their home winning streak, the Rangers are
outscoring opponents by a 19-9 margin and it is the NHL¡¯s longest win streak of
the season.Article continues below ...Dallas is 4-4-1 on the road but 4-1-1 in
its last six road games.New York extended its home win streak with a 4-2 win
over the Florida Panthers when Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves and recorded his
438th career win. Lundqvist moved past Jacques Plante for seventh all-time on
the wins list and is seven behind Terry Sawchuk.Chris Kreider scored a
power-play goal and Vladimir Namestikov netted the game-winner late in the
second period as the Rangers reached four goals for the eighth time in 10 games
(including shootouts) and rebounded from an ugly 7-5 loss to the New York
Islanders. ¡°I think we¡¯re growing up,¡± Rangers coach David Quinn said. ¡°As we¡¯ve
talked about our late-game struggles here in the last few weeks, we¡¯ve managed
to manage the game well later in the game over the last few games we¡¯ve had
leads.¡± Besides their home success of late, the Rangers are 7-1-1 in their last
nine games overall and 9-4-2 in their last 15.Kreider is a key reason for New
York¡¯s recent success. He leads New York with 11 goals and 18 points and seven
are during the last nine games.Less than 24 hours after New York¡¯s latest home
win, the Stars kept their good times rolling outside of Dallas with a 6-2
victory over the Islanders on Sunday afternoon.Esa Lindell scored twice in a
four-goal second period and Alexander Radulov tallied twice and recorded a
three-point night in his third game since returning from injured reserve for the
Stars, who began a stretch of seven out of eight games on the road.¡°We¡¯re in a
tough stretch in the schedule,¡± Dallas center Jason Spezza said after getting
his 900th career point. ¡°When you have games like this, have contributions from
up and down the lineup everybody feels a part of that and it¡¯s a good
springboard going into some tough games coming up.¡±Even of more importance for
Dallas was a return to normal for its top line of
Radulov
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Gaudreau Jersey Kids , Jaime Benn, and Tyler Seguin. Seguin recorded a
goal and two assists, Benn added three assists for his first three-point game of
the season and the trio combined for nine points.¡°We¡¯ve been waiting for them to
get hot again since the fourth game of the year,¡± Stars coach Jim Montgomery
said. ¡°And it¡¯s a great time, with all those games.¡±The big day by the Stars
occurred after Lundqvist rebounded from allowing five goals Thursday against the
Islanders. Lundqvist originally was going to get Saturday off but instead wound
up starting and improving to 5-1-1 in his last seven starts.¡°I didn¡¯t want him
to wait too long to get back in there, so we put him back in tonight and he did
what he¡¯s been doing all year long,¡± Quinn said.¡°He¡¯s been an elite goalie for a
long time and I think he¡¯s going to be an elite goalie for a while to come.¡±The
Rangers could be without Mats Zuccarello, who sat out Saturday for the fourth
time this season with a groin injury. Without Zuccarello, Ryan Strome was
inserted into the lineup on the right wing alongside Brett Howden and Jimmy
Vesey after being obtained from Edmonton Friday.