By ALANIS THAMES AP Sports Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. — The goal-starved Kings had a key contributor back in their lineup, but they still couldn’t stop the bleeding.
Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots for his second shutout of the season, and the Florida Panthers handed the Kings a 3-0 loss on Wednesday night, spoiling the season debut of veteran defenseman Drew Doughty.
Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers, who entered the game a point back of Toronto for the top spot in the Atlantic Division and won for the fourth time in six games. It was the 46th career shutout for Bobrovsky.
Darcy Kuemper made 36 saves for the Kings, who have lost three straight and seven of their past nine games (2-6-1), scoring just 15 goals over that extended stretch and just 19 in their past 11 games. The game against the Panthers was the third stop of a five-game trip, with the Kings set to play at Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
Doughty, 35, played about 24 minutes in his season debut after missing the first 47 games because of a broken left ankle sustained during a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 25. He had three shots on goal, a hit and was minus-2 in 23:51 of ice time.
Bennett gave Florida a 1-0 lead 4:55 into the game when he scored from below the bottom of the left faceoff circle. He put a forehand shot over Kuemper and under the crossbar after taking a cross-slot pass from Tkachuk.
Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, playing in his 1,000th career game, also earned an assist on the play.
Barkov netted a five-on-three power-play goal to make it 2-0 at 4:43 of the third period. He put in the rebound off the backboards of a shot by Tkachuk. The goal came five seconds after the Kings’ Warren Foegele was called for high-sticking, with teammate Trevor Lewis already in the penalty box for tripping.
Tkachuk added an empty-net goal with 1:12 remaining.
The Kings’ Alex Laferriere had an apparent goal waved off because of goaltender interference with 6:02 left in the first period. Lewis fell into Bobrovsky.
Barkov hit the goal post from the bottom of the right circle with five seconds left in the second period, and Bennett hit the goal post 6:37 into the third period.
Tkachuk recorded his seventh multi-assist game of the season. He’s up to 31 assists on the season.
This was the second time in eight days the teams squared off. The Kings beat the Panthers, 2-1, last Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena.
Wednesday was the 899th career victory for Florida coach Paul Maurice. His next win will make him only the fourth NHL coach with 900 victories.
The Kings sent Samuel Helenius down to the AHL’s Ontario Reign earlier on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
The Kings play at Tampa Bay on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.