LOS ANGELES -- With the Tampa Bay Lightning starting their most important road trip of the season, they got a strong goaltending effort to grab a rare road victory.

The short-handed Los Angeles Kings missed an opportunity to solidify the playoff standing with continued inconsistent play.

Brian Boyle and Tyler Johnson registered goals as the Lightning defeated the Kings 2-1 on Monday.

Tampa Bay (21-20-4) won for the second time in three games after a four-game losing streak. The victory was only its second in the last 12 road games as Ben Bishop made 31 saves. The one goal surrendered marked the Lightning's best defensive effort in seven games as they recorded 17 blocked shots in support of Bishop.

Los Angeles (22-18-4) had a two-game winning streak snapped and is 3-3-0 on its current homestand. The Kings dropped to 14-5-2 when scoring first and Peter Budaj stopped 27 Tampa Bay shots.

"It's an accomplishment to win in this building," Bishop said. "It's a tough place to win in and we'll enjoy it now."

Lightning coach Jon Cooper agreed that, although the season is just past the halfway point, the victory was much needed given the recent losing streak that moved his team out of playoff qualification. He reinforced the need for better goaltending from Bishop and his partner Andrei Vasilevskiy to keep their playoff hopes intact.

"Everybody gamed this one out. We played extremely hard against a big, strong, physical LA team. It was fun to watch," Cooper said. "Since the four-game losing streak, the guys have put together nine straight good periods of hockey. It's all about our net now."

The offensively-challenged Kings received a blow when captain Anze Kopitar was a late scratch due to an illness. It is expected he will miss only today's contest as the result of a virus. Without Kopitar, coach Darryl Sutter had to utilize fourth liners Kyle Clifford and Jordan Nolan on a power play that wound up 0-for-3.

Los Angeles was expected to gain ground on this homestand but played the same inconsistent hockey that has plagued them all season. Despite producing only one goal, coach Darryl Sutter was pleased by the effort of his short-handed team.

"I really don't look at it like that (playing mediocre at home)," Sutter said. "I'm disappointed we lost today. We played a hell of a game."

Los Angeles' Trevor Lewis was in no mood to use Kopitar's absence as a reason for the loss.

"As a team, everyone has to step up," Lewis said. "You lose your top guy and everyone is going to have to help out. Unfortunately, we were missing a little bit of that."

The teams played a scoreless third period, during which the Kings outshot the Lightning 11-5 but could not dent Bishop for the tying goal despite having a power play opportunity early in the final frame.

The Lightning took a 2-1 lead on Boyle's 11th goal of the season at 18:47 of the second period. Boyle gathered the puck during a scramble to the left of Budaj and banked a shot off Dustin Brown for the score with Valtteri Filppula and Nikita Kucherov drawing assists.

Tampa Bay tied the score at 1 on Johnson's 13th goal of the season at 14:33 of the first period. Jonathan Drouin connected on a pinpoint pass from the left boards to Johnson, who snapped a short shot past Budaj with Luke Witkowski drawing the secondary assist.

The Kings took a 1-0 lead on Kyle Clifford's third goal of the season at 8:33 at the first period. Clifford stole the puck from Bishop as he attempted to make a clearing play behind the net, and his wraparound attempt beat Bishop to the open cage.

NOTES: Tampa Bay scratched D Victor Hedman, RW Ryan Callahan and RW Joel Vermin. Hedman was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury. ... The Lightning recalled Vermin from Syracuse of the AHL on Sunday, his second recall this season. Vermin registered two assists in eight games after a Nov. 30 recall and totaled nine goals and 21 points in 37 games with Syracuse this season. ... Los Angeles did not dress C Anze Kopitar, D Brayden McNabb and D Tom Gilbert. Kopitar was a late scratch after becoming ill Monday morning. ... Kings coach Darryl Sutter entered the game tied with Jacques Lemaire (617) for 12th on the all-time coaching wins list. ... Los Angeles concludes its seven-game homestand on Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks, its final meeting of the season against its Pacific Division rivals. The Kings start a stretch of nine road games out of its next 10 on Saturday in Brooklyn against the New York Islanders.