Takeaways: Islanders Drop 3-1 Decision to Kings

The New York Islanders put up a fight, but ultimately fell to the Los Angeles 3-1 on Tuesday night at UBS Arena as their two-game win streak came to an end.

Anders Lee scored the lone goal for the Islanders, while Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Mikey Anderson (EN) powered the offense for Los Angeles. After finding themselves in a 2-0 hole, the Islanders clawed back to make it 2-1 and threatened to tie the game, but that was as close as they came. Ilya Sorokin kept it close making 27 of 29 saves in his sixth straight start, while Darcy Kuemper stopped 19 of 20 shots in the win.

The Islanders had a push in the third period – outshooting the Kings 7-5 and hitting the post twice - but allowed the empty net goal with 14 seconds left.

“Ilya gave us a chance to get back in the game,” Noah Dobson said after the loss. “Not the first period we wanted, but we had a good push in the second there. Same in the third. It was a pretty tight game, we just couldn’t get the next one.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Los Angeles got the scoring started when Anze Kopitar handled the puck behind the net and sauced a pass to Kempe, who raced in and wristed the shot past Sorokin at the left side of the crease at the 13:51 mark. The Kings were the dominant team in the opening 20 minutes, but the Isles got away only being down a goal despite being outshot 12-3.

“We didn’t have a good first period, we had some turnovers and lost battles, but the thing I liked is that we didn’t dig ourselves in too big of a hole,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said.

The Kings doubled their lead early in the second when Fiala wired a shot from the top of the left circle and went bar-down for the King’s second goal of the game, taking a 2-0 lead at the 3:09 mark of the frame.

The line of Lee, Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri connected to get the Islanders on the board. Nelson won a draw in the offensive-zone, and Lee boxed out Vladislav Gavrikov in front of the net, opening himself up for a pass from Palmieri. Lee corralled the puck and whipped a shot into the net to cut the deficit to 2-1 at the 9:47 mark of the middle frame.

“The puck kind of squirted out to me and I found a little space high in the zone there,” Palmieri said. “Wanted to get it toward the net, saw Lee there with good body position. I don’t think there are too many guys better than him in front of the net.”

Down 2-1 in the third period, Islanders made it interesting and tested Kuemper with quality chances. Dobson’s blast from the point trickled outside the right post and the Isles hit the post twice in the final five minutes of regulation, but Kuemper stood tall long enough for Andersen to bury the empty netter to secure the Kings' sixth straight win. While the Isles weren’t able to tie the score, it was a worthy third period effort, especially against a team that ranks first in the league in third period goals (40).

POWER PLAY COMES UP EMPTY

The Isles had three power play opportunities couldn’t capitalize on the man advantage, going 0-for-3 on the night.

After failing to record a shot on goal on the game’s first power play, the Isles man advantage looked better in its second opportunity, generating two shots on goal after Quinton Byfield took a high-sticking penalty midway through the first period. They had a big opportunity with a third period power play, but couldn’t get a shot past Kuemper.

The Islanders power play converted twice in Ottawa, in a game where they were held to 13 shots but used the man advantage to pull out the 4-2 win.

“We got it in Ottawa, we didn’t get it today,” Roy. “But I’ll say this, the guys competed, and they worked, we just came up short.”

LINEUP NOTES

Grant Hutton drew into the lineup for Scott Mayfield, who missed the contest with an illness. Hutton recorded a hit in 16:33 TOI.

Oliver Wahlstrom briefly left the game in the second period after blocking a shot, missing a couple of shifts but finishing out the game.

ODDS AND ENDS

• With a second period goal, Lee collected his 11th career goal in 19 games against Los Angeles. Lee moved into sole possession of eighth place on the franchise all-time list in goals (273).
• Lee led the team in shots on goal (6).
• JG Pageau and Max Tsyplakov tied for a team-high hits (3). The most notable hit of the night however came from Alexander Romanov, who laid a clean hit on Alex Laferriere in the neutral zone, which stirred up Kyle Burroughs, who dropped his gloves to fight but would up with a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

NOTABLE QUOTE

Dobson on the team’s mindset heading into their next game:

“We’ll take the things that we could clean up, we can do a better job off the rush. In the last couple games we gave up too many chances there. We have to reset and get ready for Thursday.”

NEXT GAME

The Islanders complete a two-game homestand when the Chicago Blackhawks come to town on Thursday night. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.