SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- South Florida finally was kind to the Los Angeles Kings.
Derek Armstrong and Trent Klatt scored power-play goals and Roman Cechmanek made 24 saves as the Kings built a big lead before holding on for a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
Entering with a record of 0-4-3 in seven road meetings with the Panthers, Los Angeles grabbed the lead in the first period on Armstrong's fourth goal in five games. Klatt made it 2-0 with his fourth of the season early in the second, and Jon Sim took advantage of poor defensive coverage later in the period for a three-goal cushion.
"We lost a game in here last time in the last minute," Los Angeles coach Andy Murray said of his team's troubles in South Florida. "It's just one of those things and the schedule, sometimes you play an opponent when you're tired and they're fresh, and there are different factors that come into play. ... It's nice for us to turn the corner on it."
The Panthers made things interesting, cutting the lead to 3-2 on tallies by rookie Nathan Horton and defenseman Mike Van Ryn. But Cechmanek withstood a late flurry to give the Kings their third straight road win in their first game away from home since October 12.
"He was fantastic," Armstrong said. "He is a world-class goalie and that is what we need him to do every night. He is consistent and he played well tonight."
"Some unorthodox goalies get the job done and some are questioned about their ability to get it done," Florida coach Mike Keenan said. "Dominik Hasek, I guess, would be the best example of an unorthodox goaltender that gets the job done. ... Maybe Cechmanek is emulating Hasek, or trying to."
Making his first appearance in a week, Roberto Luongo turned aside 32 shots for Florida, which has lost four of its last six.
From just above the right faceoff circle, Luc Robitaille shoved a pass to Armstrong, who one-timed it past Luongo on the glove side at 13:26 of the first period, giving Los Angeles the lead.
"Obviously, going out there and playing with good linemates does help," Armstrong said of his recent success. "I'm just going out there and playing hard. I am getting the opportunity here to help the team win."
Just 12 seconds into their fifth power play of the game, the Kings increased the advantage to 2-0.
Jaroslav Modry set up fellow defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky at the blue line. The Czech Republic native fired a one-timer that was deflected in front by Klatt at 3:59.
"The difference was the power play," Keenan said. "After two periods, they had seven power plays and we had two. That's really where the crux of our demise was."
"There have been a lot of penalties on us lately," Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "You have to try and fix that. You try to do better. We have to try to get ourselves together pretty quickly."
Sim made it 3-0 at 11:29, outbattling Mikael Samuelsson for the puck in the right corner and walking to the goalpost before jamming it past Luongo for his second goal.
"Samuelsson was tripped behind our net, which led to a goal, and (referee Don) Koharski never called it," Keenan said. "So that play factored into the result."
"We wanted to make sure that we were physical," Klatt said. "I think we did that very well and we generated a three-goal lead."
While lying on his side, Horton put a shot between Cechmanek's pads from the right circle with 2:13 remaining to get Florida on the scoreboard. And with a two-man advantage less than 8 1/2 minutes into the third, Van Ryn unleashed a rising slap shot from above the slot that got past Cechmanek to draw the Kings within a goal.
