Trading pesticides for steam: Northern California county tests safer berry farming

• October 7, 2026

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — Drivers winding down San Andreas Road in La Selva Beach Thursday morning were treated to an unusual site as they gazed out onto the field of Tomatero Organic Farm: a tractor pulling some kind of high-tech trailer that appeared to be emitting a lot of steam.

What they saw was Santa Cruz County’s latest effort to test out a potential alternative to fumigation: the steam treatment pilot program. The county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office has partnered with Salinas company High Degree to test out the use of soil steaming — in which specialized equipment is used to inject high-temperature steam into the soil before berry crops are planted — as a potentially viable substitute for fumigation.

The goal is to explore a technology that would not have the health risks associated with pesticides but could still protect crops against pathogens and other soil-borne pests. The county has begun testing the machinery at different fields in the Pajaro Valley — some of which use conventional growing techniques and others that use organic growing methods — located near sensitive sites like schools. The county will collect data through next year on how soil steaming performs under commercial farming conditions and help the community better understand the emerging technology.

The $175,000 project was funded by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, in partnership with Safe Ag Safe Schools and UC Santa Cruz. Jenny Broome, a plant pathologist at UC Santa Cruz who is leading a team to develop a Biologically Integrated Farming System that utilizes steam, was part of a group that secured the initial funding for a smaller steam soil machine to be used for trial periods.

“During that time, this company High Degree was able to get some venture capital funding and build their own big machine that was five times more powerful than the smaller research unit,” she said.

Broome said steam treatment is a farming method that dates back to 19th century Europe where it was primarily used in greenhouses and nurseries.

“What’s novel about this is that we’re trying to do it at a big California scale, open field, and that’s pretty challenging to pull off but we feel like we’re definitely a step closer with this new, big machine,” she said.

The program was previously tested at a mix of organic and conventional fields located near schools like MacQuiddy Elementary School, Pajaro Valley High School and Lakeview Middle School. Thursday’s site, located on Tomatero Farm‘s field at the corner of San Andreas Road and Sand Dollar Drive, was chosen by Agricultural Commissioner David Sanford because of its proximity to Renaissance High School.

“(He) highlighted it as a high priority because the school is right across the street,” said Broome.

Additionally, Broome said that despite Tomatero Farm being organic, the neighboring fields have reportedly experienced pathogens like verticillium wilt and macrophomina.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a direct test of the soil, but we will look for all of them,” she said. “Once we run the soil test, we’ll know exactly what we have, but that’s what we suspect because unfortunately they get moved around with cultivation equipment.”

Broome said another goal is to look at a variety of farming methods that could be used.

“You don’t want to just rely on steam, just like you don’t want to rely just on fumigations,” she said. “A big of part of it is looking at the host susceptibility and advising the growers based on what pathogens they have, what varieties should they grow and should they avoid.”

Ryan Benson, lead engineer for High Degree, explained the process. The machinery consists of a trailer with boiling equipment pulled by a John Deere tractor. The boiler produces treated hot water that emits steam while an applicator injects it into the soil.

“It’s essentially using the steam as a heat transfer mechanism,” he said.

Benson said High Degree is collecting data and looking at ways to improve the steam machine’s operations, which will be factored into designing the next machine.

“This is more of a scale prototype so that we can test that they can do production in quantities,” he said. “Next year, we should have another machine to essentially replace this with a much smaller footprint and even increase our production.”

Broome said the data collected from the fields will be studied over the next year, based on samples from before steam was injected and again from 30 days later.

“These days, we have really good tools,” she said, likening them to rapid COVID tests, “to know exactly what pathogen is in the soil.”

Omar Dieguez, a local activist who has spoken out against the use of pesticides near schools in the Pajaro Valley, was on-site during the machine’s demonstration Thursday. He said the technology was too new to be able to weigh the pros and cons just yet but felt it was encouraging as an alternative to pesticides.

“I’m excited to see what the data’s going to come back with and see what they’re going to come up with,” he said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”

Dieguez was pleased to see it was being tested near school sites.

“That’s what we’ve been asking for, as far as activism and stopping the use of harmful pesticides just to save the children and our neighborhoods, our elders and our farmworkers,” he said.

Sanford was pleased to see the project getting started.

“It’s going to contribute to the evaluation of the technology and maybe some more innovations on how to make it more efficient in the field,” he said.

​ Orange County Register 

Israelis mourn Oct. 7 attack as Palestinians in Gaza live in ruins of war sparked by the assault

• October 7, 2026

By MELANIE LIDMAN

REIM, Israel (AP) — Israelis gathered Wednesday to commemorate the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 people, saw 251 taken hostage and sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has left much of the territory in ruins and its 2 million people living in dire conditions.

In southern Israel, families mourned at intersections, bomb shelters and the site of a music festival that the fighters overran three years ago in the deadliest attack in the country’s history. It is the first anniversary since all the hostages, living and dead, were returned, marking a new stage of grief.

For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of misery after an Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Most Gaza residents live in vast, squalid tent camps, with large parts of the strip’s cities reduced to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military. Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.

For the region, the day highlights a startling transformation over the past three years.

Israeli troops occupy a large chunk of southern Lebanon in their conflict with the Hezbollah militant group, which began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran and the United States are locked in a confrontation that has seen attacks across Gulf Arab countries and has shaken the global economy — a conflict that Israel helped launch and that the Gaza war paved the way for, even if they weren’t directly connected.

Families mourn at the Nova Festival site

Near the town of Reim, where the music festival was underway when fighters attacked, families gathered around photos of their killed relatives. Hundreds of people paid their respects to the more than 350 people killed in and around the festival site. Videos from that day showed combatants gunning down fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at point-blank range and ambushing those seeking refuge in nearby bomb shelters.

On Wednesday, survivors’ relatives hugged at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time the first rockets were launched three years ago — as explosions boomed in nearby Gaza.

Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son, Sean, said she visits the site every Saturday. It’s where she feels closest to him.

“I have a video of him dancing here that ends at 6:29 in the morning, it’s in front of my eyes all the time,” she said. “Every morning, you wake up and there is just endless missing.”

A released hostage marks his first Oct. 7

Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time since his release after 738 days of captivity. For most of that time, he said, he was held underground in a dark, damp tunnel.

Bohbot, who was abducted from the festival, was kept in a small cell with other hostages, given little food and allowed to bathe only every few weeks, he said. His captors forced him to take part in propaganda videos, including one where he acts out a fake call to his family.

In the year since his release, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation. In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling his promise to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.

The newborn Michele is “not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy,” Bohbot told The Associated Press. “This child is the message for you that we were here and we will always be here forever.”

Palestinians in Gaza live surrounded by ruins

No events are expected Wednesday in Gaza, but Hamas in a statement praised the Oct. 7 attack as an example of ”heroism, resilience and national solidarity” and said it had returned the Palestinian cause to the world’s attention.

“The conflict with the enemy did not begin on that day, as its final chapters are not written yet,” it said.

Palestinians in the territory said the extent to which their lives had deteriorated over the past three years was previously unimaginable.

“We witnessed death, destruction, and bombardment that we had never known before,” said Walid Akram, a Gaza City resident who, like most in Gaza, has been displaced by the war.

Raed Khozeiq’s coastal neighborhood in Tel al-Hawa was largely flattened. Nothing about his life now is the same, he said.

“No country in the world has gone through what we have experienced here,” he said. “A war of extermination, starvation, the absence of schools and universities — nothing remains.”

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures but says around half were women and children. The numbers from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

While a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10, 2025, halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas fighters. Since the ceasefire, 1,460 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry. Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period. Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to a hunger crisis, food security experts say.

The anniversary comes to a radically altered Middle East

A contentious election in Israel at the end of the month hangs over this year’s anniversary. The government’s official memorial services took place Oct. 5, closer to the Hebrew calendar’s anniversary of the attack.

The separate commemorations reflect deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his handling of the war and his reluctance to launch an official inquiry into failings of the day.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who hopes to unseat Netanyahu, looked at the photos of the dead in Reim and spoke with sobbing family members.

Gadi Eisenkot, the head of the opposition Yashar! party, met with families at a bomb shelter where many were killed as they tried to flee.

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led to wars across the Middle East as Israel confronted Hamas, Hezbollah and their backer Iran. Israel has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Lebanon, where more than 300,000 Lebanese remain displaced. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in two rounds, battering Iran and upending global markets far from the battlefield.

Violence has also risen across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s far-right government has heightened restrictions on Palestinians while emboldening extremist settlers who have attacked them and destroyed their property.

Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Sam Metz in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Kagan and Soai for research solving ‘mirror image’ mystery

• October 7, 2026

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, KOSTYA MANENKOV and STEFANIE DAZIO

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their efforts to resolve mysterious mirror images in chemical molecules, a discovery that transformed modern medicine.

Many molecules of life come in versions that look alike but aren’t exactly identical, like right and left hands. One mirror image of the chemical carvone smells like mint, for example, while the other has a whiff of caraway.

When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists want to be choosy about which mirror image they’re getting. They want the version of a molecule that’ll treat a cold, not the kind that’ll make the sniffles worse.

Kagan and Soai found ways to make chemistry pick a side, designing and manipulating reactions to produce the desired mirror image.

“This is probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry,” said Peter Somfai, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “Taken together, the groundbreaking discoveries by Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have reshaped our understanding of molecular chirality — how it is created, amplified and transmitted.”

The discovery enabled most modern medicines

Scientists paid tribute to Kagan and Soai’s groundbreaking work, which the Nobel committee described as a feat never previously achieved by anyone “other than life itself.”

“It might be difficult to say that this drug, or that drug, was developed using this,” Somfai said. “I would say all of them, because we use this as a tool, we use this as an understanding, how to develop catalysts, how they function.”

“Chirality” comes from the Greek word for “hand.”

In the 1980s, Kagan’s work showed there might be a way to design reactions to produce one form of a molecule over the other. Years later, Soai brought that dream to life. He created the first-ever chemical reaction to produce only one of a molecule’s mirror images, in what’s now known as the “Soai reaction.”

“The medicines we have today would not be possible without this chemistry,” said Rigoberto Hernandez, president of the American Chemical Society.

Kagan, 95 years old and born in France, is affiliated with the Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Soai, born in 1950 in Japan, with the Tokyo University of Science.

The French Academy of Sciences, of which Kagan is a member, congratulated the two scientists and expressed its pride in the prize.

Neither the Université Paris-Sud nor the Tokyo University of Science responded immediately to AP requests for comment.

“I’m very excited to receive the very nice news,” Soai told the committee and journalists by phone. “Of course this is one of the most exciting days in my life.”

He said he was shopping near his home when he was reached by the Nobel committee.

More Nobel prizes will be awarded over the next week

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.

Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.

This year’s prizes began with the Nobel for medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award Tuesday recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize is set to be awarded Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

Ramakrishnan reported from New York and Dazio from Berlin. Associated Press journalists Alexa St. John in Detroit and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

​ Orange County Register 

Endorsement: No on Prop. 2. California needs fiscal discipline, not accounting tricks

• October 7, 2026

Placed on the ballot by the California Legislature this summer via Assembly Constitutional Amendment 20, Proposition 2 asks voters to approve changes to the state budget process. On its face, it doesn’t seem too bad and the title given to it for the ballot is seemingly innocuous, “Increases State’s Rainy Day Fund. Legislative Constitutional Amendment.”

As the title and summary suggest, passage of Prop. 2 would double the state budget reserve cap from 10% of General Fund revenues to 20% of General Fund revenues. The General Fund is the state’s main spending account.

Supporters build off the intuition voters may have about the virtues of saving and having a bigger “rainy day fund.” As the author statement in support of ACA 20 argues, “By strengthening California’s Rainy Day Fund, we can protect funding for schools and essential public services, better weather future economic downturns, and leave our children a stronger, more resilient California.”

That argument does key in on a recurring problem facing state government financing, which is its volatility given the state’s heavy reliance on income and capital gains taxes, which are prone to boom and bust cycles. Consistently, the state has succumbed to the temptations of spending more, creating new programs, funding more boondoggles like the California High-Speed Rail project. Then, when the money runs out, the state panics, abruptly slashes some spending and plays budget shell games like borrowing from other state funds to cover General Fund spending.

That gets to the core problem with Prop. 2. The state doesn’t actually have a revenue problem. After accounting for inflation, the state budget has grown 40% since Gov. Gavin Newsom took office. There’s plenty of money coming in. The problem is how the state handles that money, which is irresponsibly.

In 2014, California voters approved another Proposition 2 which built on the state’s reserve rules and required the state to set aside 1.5% of General Fund revenue. Half had to go into the Budget Stabilization Fund, and half toward paying down debt. That latter provision is set to expire in 2030.

Enter the 2026 Prop. 2, which would enable some of the worst behavior of the Legislature, including its practice of borrowing from other state funds, by expanding the types of debts that would count as lawful uses of that money and extending that authorization through 2040.

It’s easy to miss, but the LAO summary of Prop. 2 in the official voter guide mailed out to everyone actually mentions this: “Specifically, these payments could be used to make required payments to schools and community colleges, repay borrowing from other state funds, and repay certain loans from the federal government.” As columnist and editorial board member Susan Shelley notes, “This effectively relieves the state’s General Fund of these IOU payment obligations, freeing up billions of dollars of General Fund revenue for more spending.”

Finally, as noted by Assemblymen David Tangipa and Carl DeMaio, along with Senator Steven Choi, “Prop. 2 creates loopholes and accounting gimmicks so politicians can eliminate any chance of you getting your tax rebate.” What they are referring to is the state constitutional spending cap known as the Gann Limit which, though weakened over the years, requires the state to give rebates to taxpayers under certain circumstances. Prop. 2 makes it harder to ever hit that formula-based limit.

In sum, Prop. 2 operates under the pretense that Sacramento really just wants to become more responsible. What it actually does is further bloat the accounts of the state, enables ongoing budget games and makes it harder for taxpayers to get some of their money back.

Vote no on Prop. 2 and elect more prudent state lawmakers.

​ Orange County Register 

NLDS: Cronenworth, King help Padres stay alive, force Game 4

• October 7, 2026

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO — Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking homer, Game 2 starter Michael King pitched the final two innings on one day of rest and the San Diego Padres avoided playoff elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of their National League Division Series on Tuesday night.

Xander Bogaerts turned a game-ending double play at shortstop for the Padres, who trimmed Milwaukee’s lead in the best-of-five series to 2-1 with a tense, back-and-forth victory over the MLB-best Brewers.

Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park. If necessary, Game 5 will be back in Milwaukee on Friday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado drove in early runs for the Padres, but their bullpen didn’t have star closer Mason Miller, who went on the paternity list about 45 minutes before the first pitch. King stepped up after pitching five innings just two days ago and finished it off – but only after a thrilling ninth.

The right-hander retired four of his first five batters, but William Contreras and Brice Turang drew one-out walks in the ninth. Christian Yelich then cracked a 107 mph line drive up the middle, where Bogaerts went down to his knees to field it on a short hop and scampered to touch second base before throwing out Yelich at first to end it.

King earned his first save since 2023, his first in the postseason and his first for the Padres.

Contreras homered and had three hits for the Brewers, who lost their 12th consecutive postseason road game dating to the 2018 NL Championship Series.

Yelich even got his first playoff RBI since 2018 with a seventh-inning single, but Milwaukee fell behind early and never led, leaving 11 runners on base.

PADRES BACK ON TRACK

The Padres had won 19 of 22 games and swept the Chicago Cubs out of the Wild Card Series before losing two straight heartbreakers in Milwaukee last weekend, but they are fighting to stay with the majors’ best regular-season team.

The clubs have played three consecutive one-run games in this NLDS, all decided by late-game execution – and this time, the Padres came through.

They were also bailed out by King, largely a reliever early in his major league career with the Yankees. This game was just his third relief appearance in three seasons with San Diego – and according to OptaStats, he is the first pitcher to start a postseason game and then earn a two-inning save within the next two days since saves became an official statistic in 1969.

BACK-AND-FORTH GAME

Neither starter excelled on a tense, uncommonly hot October night in downtown San Diego. Nick Pivetta yielded two runs and five hits while pitching into the fifth for the Padres, and Dustin May was pulled abruptly with a 1-and-0 count on Bogaerts and a runner on in the fourth.

Samad Taylor and Jackson Merrill put San Diego ahead in the third when both singled, stole second and scored. Contreras answered with his second homer of the series, adding a theatrical trot around the bases.

Cooper Pratt tied the score right after Pivetta’s exit when Dustin Harris couldn’t throw him out on Jackson Chourio’s 242-foot sacrifice fly. It was the fifth RBI of the series for the 22-year-old Chourio and his 16th in 15 career postseason games, already tying Ryan Braun for the franchise record.

Cronenworth lined JoJo Romero’s first pitch of the fifth over the wall in right for only his second hit of the postseason.

Bogaerts then singled in the sixth, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Pratt bounced his throw from shortstop for an error after Miguel Andujar’s broken bat came flying toward him along with the grounder.

San Diego’s outfield couldn’t get to Turang’s bloop single with two outs in the seventh, and Yelich singled home Contreras for his first playoff RBI since he homered in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers – a span of 87 plate appearances over 19 games.

UP NEXT

Neither team had announced its Game 4 starter.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Depleted Lakers drop preseason game against Warriors

• October 7, 2026

The Lakers were handed their first preseason loss on Tuesday night, falling to the Golden State Warriors, 124-98, at the Chase Center in the second leg of their Bay Area back-to-back set.

Seven Lakers players didn’t suit up Tuesday, with Luka Doncic, Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle joining Austin Reaves (tweaked ankle), Walker Kessler (jammed finger), Collin Sexton (undisclosed lower-body injury) and two-way contract forward Arthur Kaluma (undisclosed lower-body injury) as unavailable following the team’s Monday night victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters before the game that the new absences were related to being “smart” with the preseason back-to-back games.

Guard Bronny James, wing Adou Thiero, forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili and forward Jake LaRavia all joined the starting lineup Tuesday, with Mamukelashvili (15 points) and guard Quentin Grimes (12 points) leading the way for the shorthanded Lakers against Steph Curry and Co. Guard Jaden Hardy, playing an increased role compared to Monday, added 13 points off the bench.

Despite the roster limitations on Tuesday, the Lakers showcased defensive activity once again. They forced the Warriors into 23 turnovers and tallied 13 steals. Jarred Vanderbilt and LaRavia each had three steals.

Similarly sloppy, however, the Lakers turned the ball over 22 times while shooting just 39.8% from the field. The Warriors shot 51.2% from the field and had four players score in double figures despite just two players breaching the 20-minute marker.

Each of the Lakers’ 14 active players – including two-way contract forward AK Okereke and training-camp invite wing Cole Swider – appeared in Tuesday’s game, with all but three players spending fewer than 10 minutes on the floor.

Rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg led Golden State with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting as he vies for a starting lineup spot before opening night against the Lakers on Oct. 21 at Crypto.Com Arena.

Next up for the Lakers is a home preseason game against the Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night, before playing the Warriors in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The Lakers will wrap up their preseason slate on Oct. 16 when they host the Denver Nuggets.

​ Orange County Register 

JSerra girls flag football wins 50th straight game, Trinity League title

• October 7, 2026

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JSerra’s girls flag football team achieved two major feats with a single victory Tuesday night.

The Lions defeated visiting Mater Dei 40-12 to extend their winning streak to 50th consecutive games and clinch the outright Trinity League championship.

JSerra quarterback Kate Meier completed 26 of 37 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns. The sophomore logged completions to 11 different receivers.

Abby Vanderweerd and Stella Day had interceptions for the Lions’ defense.

JSerra, ranked No. 1 in Orange County and in the nation by MaxPreps, is 22-0 overall.

The Lions are 5-0 in the league play, two games ahead of Orange Lutheran (3-2) with one game remaining.

Last season, JSerra finished 28-0.

The Lions have won three consecutive Trinity League titles. They shared the crown with Orange Lutheran in 2024.

On Friday, JSerra plays host to Campo Verde of Arizona at 11:40 a.m.

Mater Dei, No. 4 in the county, fell to 16-6 overall, 2-3 in league.

​ Orange County Register 

Winless Kings fall to banged-up Panthers in home opener

• October 7, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Gone were the four-goal outbursts and menacing power plays, but remaining was the winless record for the Kings, who stumbled against the Florida Panthers, 2-1, on Tuesday night in their home opener at Crypto.com Arena.

They went 0 for 5 on the power play and squeezed out just one goal against an undermanned and road-weary Florida club. The Panthers were finishing their four-game road trip without captain Aleksander Barkov, former No. 1 overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad and, by the end of the night, veteran winger Brad Marchand.

More positively, the Kings were 6 for 6 on the penalty kill and were given a chance by their goaltender, in stark contrast to their first two games of the season.

Alex Laferriere got the scoring going, but no other King followed his lead. Darcy Kuemper had solid numbers, stopping 26 shots, but saw two goals go through him in the loss.

Seth Jones and Matthew Tkachuk each had a goal for Florida. Jacob Markström made 19 saves.

In the final 20 minutes, the Kings threatened multiple times while shorthanded but could not capitalize before giving up the go-ahead goal to Tkachuk and fizzling out with Kuemper pulled from his net.

Tkachuk collected a turnover in the neutral zone and passed the puck ahead to Sam Bennett. A back-checking Artemi Panarin lifted his stick, but that only gave Tkachuk time to get into the play. Bennett had the presence of mind to find him for a wrister that squibbed through Kuemper with 8:40 to play.

The Kings, theoretically, carried momentum from a late goal in the opening frame and an extended power-play opportunity that spanned nearly five minutes, including 66 seconds of two-man advantage. But not only did they fail to cash in on their chance to cushion their lead early in the second period, but they gave up a goal in transition six seconds after the final Florida penalty expired, at 3:49.

Lars Eller blocked and absorbed Brandt Clarke’s shot, going the other way for a two-on-two counterattack. He passed to Jones, who beat Panarin easily to the outside to drive the net for a five-hole goal that leveled the contest.

While the Panthers won the period, they lost two players during its course.

Bizarrely, they were both being fouled by Clarke at the time they exited the game, though he did not directly cause either injury.

First, he cross-checked Eetu Luostarinen right as a shot attempt was hitting him in the shin, forcing him out of a game to which he later returned. Marchand, who made his season debut against the Ducks on Sunday after recovering from offseason surgery, was not so fortunate. After taking a high-stick from Clarke, he fell as he drove the net and his left leg buckled under him. He needed considerable help to leave the ice and did not skate another shift.

Though the Kings had no shots in the first 10:55 of the match and needed a nick-of-time poke check from defenseman Cody Ceci to avert a score-opening Florida goal, they got on the board first with one minute left in the first period.

As the Kings forechecked, Erik Haula recovered the puck behind the net, wrapping around in front to fling a sharp-angled shot on goal. It banked off Markström and straight to Laferriere at the opposite post, where he had a wide-open net.

On deck, the Kings travel to Las Vegas for a clash with the Golden Knights on Saturday.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register