SUNRISE, Fla. — A fortuitous bounce helped give the Kings a chance, but they couldn’t complete a comeback against the reigning champs.

Sam Bennett scored 10 seconds into the third period, Brad Marchand had two assists and the Florida Panthers held on to beat the Kings, 3-2, on Wednesday night and sweep the two-game season series.

Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida (18-13-2), which has won six of its last seven games. Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves for the Panthers. He denied the Kings’ Trevor Moore on a pair of breakaways, the second one with 4:54 left to preserve a one-goal lead.

Joel Armia and Kevin Fiala had the goals for the Kings (14-10-9), who have lost four straight (0-2-2). The four-game winless streak matches a season-worst slide for the Kings, who were 0-2-2 from Oct. 11 through Oct. 18 as well. Anton Forsberg stopped 25 shots for the Kings.

Fiala cut the Kings’ deficit to 3-2 with 15:12 left in the third period thanks to a fortuitous bounce. A clearing attempt by Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling from near his own goal line deflected off of Fiala’s shin and went about 20 feet at a sharp angle toward the Florida net and past Tarasov.

The Kings had a chance to tie the score in the final minutes, after Florida’s Anton Lundell was called for high-sticking with 3:05 left. The Kings managed only one shot on the ensuing power play – about half of which was with a two-man advantage after Forsberg was pulled for an extra attacker – and the Panthers held on from there.

“It was a competitive game. When you play those guys, you’re going to be challenged physically,” Kings coach Jim Hiller told NHL.com. “I thought we were toe-to-toe with them and were down one when the whistle blows. … We hit three posts and missed three breakaways. There were some other chances from deflections, and we were around their net.”

Florida has successfully killed off 29 of 31 penalties over nine games thus far in December, including three of four on Wednesday.

“I thought it was good in the first, got away from us a bit in the second, and then obviously a rough start to the third,” Kings forward Alex Laferriere told NHL.com. “We responded well to that and took it to them a little bit in the third. Just have to bear down on our chances, try to score goals. We just can’t score goals right now so it’s frustrating, but it will show the resiliency of our group.”

The first two goals of the game were nearly identical – deflections on the power play.

The Kings scored first as Armia redirected a shot from Brandt Clarke with 6:21 left in the initial period. After the deflection, the puck dipped down and went between Tarasov’s pads.

Florida tied the score with 17:46 remaining in the second as Lundell tipped in a shot by Aaron Ekblad. Had it not been for Lundell’s stick, Ekblad’s shot likely would have gone wide of the net.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champs took a 2-1 lead with 12:56 left in the second as Verhaeghe spun around and knocked in a rebound off the right leg of Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson. Jeff Petry earned the primary assist as it was his shot from the point that started the sequence.

Florida wasted no time extending its lead to 3-1, scoring just 10 seconds into the third period. Marchand got the primary assist as his perfect pass connected with a charging Bennett, who tipped the puck to the short side of the net, past Forsberg. Bennett’s goal tied for the third-fastest to start any period this season.

Kirill Marchenko scored for Columbus seven seconds into a second period against Minnesota on Oct. 11; the Ducks’ Jackson Lacombe scored nine seconds into a second period against Vancouver on Nov. 26; and Edmonton star Connor McDavid scored 10 seconds into a third period against Buffalo on Dec. 9.

“Tonight, like in Dallas, thought were pretty solid games both nights,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson told NHL.com, referring to Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Stars. “But if you’re not getting points, it feels almost useless. No one is happy … if you don’t win, you don’t feel too happy about how you played. It’s one or two bounces, but we need those to go our way if we want to go where we want to go.”

The Kings visit Tampa Bay on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.