Thursday Night NHL: Florida vs. Los Angeles

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Thursday Night NHL: Florida vs. Los Angeles

The Florida Panthers continue their cross country trek when the puck drops against the Los Angeles Kings.

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This is the first of two meetings between the teams. They will meet again at the BankAtlantic Center on Feb. 9, 2012. They last faced each other on Dec. 2, 2010, when Anze Kopitar broke a 2-2 tie with just under three minutes left in regulation to lift the Kings to a 3-2 victory at the Staples Center.

Florida's four-game road trip continues in Southern California after the first-place club moved five points ahead of Washington in the Southeast Division with Tuesday night's 3-1 win at Carolina. It was just the type of rebound Kevin Dineen was looking for after the Panthers opened the trip with a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay last Saturday.

Patience was indeed a virtue for Florida on Tuesday night, as they had to wait a long time before Shawn Matthias broke a 1-1 tie with just 3:19 to go. He added an empty-net goal to lift the Panthers to a 3-1 victory against the Hurricanes, spoiling Kirk Muller's debut as Carolina's coach.

Los Angeles avoided a three-game skid in impressive fashion Monday night, as Jonathan Quick stopped all 33 shots he faced to lead the Kings to a 2-0 victory against the San Jose Sharks at the Staples Center. It was Quick's League-leading fourth shutout in his 200th NHL game.

Quick was especially sharp in the second period, when the Sharks were awarded two power plays over the final 4 1/2 minutes.

For the Panthers, Mikael Samuelsson (lower body) hasn't played since being acquired from Vancouver on Oct. 22, but there is hope he could play Thursday. Florida is expected to be without Matt Bradley (upper body), Scottie Upshall (hip) and Marcel Goc (upper body), as well as Dmitry Kulikov, who was slashed by a skate in the right leg during the second period Tuesday's game.

The Panthers will be hard pressed to get this win with all of the injuries and playing away from home.