Shootout results… Panthers: Olesz, glove save. Kings: Kopitar, deflected wide. Panthers: Reinprecht, save. Kings: Johnson, GOAL. Panthers: Stillman, save.

Headed to overtime again… Shots were 32-28 Kings.

A defensive-zone turnover by Jack Johnson eventually led to a mad scramble in front of the Kings’ net, and to Jonathan Quick losing his stick. Finally, Victor Oreskovich picked up a rebound and whacked it past Quick with 5:05 remaining.

The Kings scored a shorthanded goal at the 7:58 mark. Michal Handzus pulled up in the left circle for a shot, but Randy Jones kept going to the net. Vokoun made the stop on Handzus’ shot, but Jones skated in and knocked in the rebound.

Ryan Smyth has suffered an upper-body injury, according to a Kings spokesman, and won’t return. Smyth finished the second period but has not had a shift in the third.

Jarret Stoll scored a power-play goal on a one-time slap shot from the top of the left circle. Anze Kopitar made the nice pass to Stoll, and Drew Doughty also got an assist.

The Kings found some life after they went down 2-0, got a goal from Johnson and outshot the Panthers 13-11 in the second period.

After faltering badly through the first minute of a power play, the Kings scored when Jack Johnson ripped a slap shot from the top of the right circle and beat Tomas Vokoun at the 9:10 mark. Randy Jones and Alexander Frolov got assists.

The Panthers pushed their lead to 2-0 just 1:35 later. Dennis Seidenberg made a nice, long outlet pass to Steven Reinprecht, who came up the right side. Cory Stillman got behind the Kings’ defense to make it a quick 2-on-1, and Reinprecht fed the puck to his left to Stillman, who one-timed it from short [...]

With Jarret Stoll in the penalty box for slashing, Nathan Horton shot from the left circle and beat Jonathan Quick high to the short side. The goal came 2:05 into the second period. Keith Ballard and Bryan McCabe got assists.

The Kings outshot Florida 10-7 in the uneven period. The Panthers had six blocked shots in the game’s first 11 minutes, a product of their own strong play and the Kings’ tendency to take long-range shots, particularly when they had the period’s only power play. Justin Williams had a team-high three shots for the Kings.

Florida enters tonight’s game with 15 points in 17 games, and it’s not difficult to see why. The Panthers have the NHL’s second-worst power play (13.0 percent) and its third-worst penalty-kill unit (74.2). Then again, the Kings have the fifth-worst penalty-kill unit (75.6) and have already lost to the team with the worst power play [...]

Saturday’s game was a painful victory for Kings center Michal Handzus. He was credited with two blocked shots, but there had to be a handful of other blocks/deflections that Handzus managed to play through in a gritty effort. Handzus also got credit, from Terry Murray, for smashing Tampa Bay’s Steve Downie after Downie had delivered [...]

Drew Doughty is averaging 23 minutes, 47 seconds of ice time this season, just three seconds per game under last season’s team-high average. Doughty played a career-high 29:33 Saturday against Tampa Bay and has played at least 24 minutes in four of his last six games. Doughty isn’t the only defenseman getting big minutes. Jack [...]

This road trip came at a good time for Randy Jones. Claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Oct. 29, Jones had a few days to get acclimated in Southern California, then left for this nine-day road trip, which allowed him to get to know his new teammates. Jones made himself popular early, as he scored [...]

After practice today, Rob Scuderi was walking around in workout clothes, but obviously was not on the ice. Here’s what Terry Murray said about the prospects of Scuderi’s short-term return… MURRAY: “I think he’s going to be real close to being back in the lineup when we get home against the Flyers.” The Kings host [...]

Peter Harrold is expected to rejoin the lineup tonight, as a forward, in place of Teddy Purcell.

No lineup changes out of the morning skate. It was an optional skate, but everyone was on the ice except Alexander Frolov (and Rob Scuderi). No real update on Scuderi, except that Terry Murray said he didn’t expect Scuderi to be out long, so you can take that for whatever it’s worth. Pairs are Doughty-Jones, [...]

Considering that the Kings have already suffered losses of 4-1 and 7-0 on this road trip, it’s actually somewhat remarkable that they would end it with a 3-2 record if they beat Florida tomorrow. The Panthers are an up-and-down team. They’re coming off consecutive shootout victories, over Boston (1-0) and the Islanders (5-4). Goalie Tomas [...]

Following up on the earlier item, and Wayne Simmonds’ comments about team toughness, here’s what Terry Murray said today about playing the correct way, with toughness, but also doing it in a smart way… Question: How fine is the line between playing with toughness, and not getting pushed around, but not taking bad penalties either? [...]