UBS Keys to the Game: Islanders at Kings

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (19-20-8) AT LOS ANGELES KINGS (28-17-7)10:30 PM ET | CRYPTO.COM ARENAWATCH: MSG+ | MSG GO | ESPN+LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | 98.7FM
Onto the next one.
The New Islanders continue their California swing with their next stop in Los Angeles against the Kings on Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The Islanders' point streak reached four games (2-0-2) as they collected a point on Thursday night in their 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks. It was a historic night for milestones as Zdeno Chara obtained sole possession of most NHL games played by a defenseman (1,652) and Zach Parise tallied his 400th-career goal. Brock Nelson and Adam Pelech also found the back of the net, while Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves on 28 shots in the loss.
Despite not claiming the full two points, the effort against San Jose featured some of the Islanders' best hockey of the season including a season-high 47 shots on net.
"We deserved the two points," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "If you played to that level every night, you would get a lot of points. We were really good; the hockey gods just didn't bless us tonight. We can walk out of here feeling that we played a real strong game, and we did. We had a season-high of [47] shots. Scoring chances were 30, which is extremely high. There weren't any passengers."
The Kings are coming off a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night which marked their fourth-straight victory. Adrian Kempe scored twice while Anze Kopitar (power play) and Carl Grundstrom also found the back of the net. Jonathan Quick made 24 saves on 25 shots.
The Islanders will look to split their season series against the Kings after dropping a 3-2 loss to LA at UBS Arena in their first meeting back on January 27th.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• Chara officially surpassed Chris Chelios as he skated in his 1,652-career game. On his special night, the 44-year-old logged 16:26 time on ice, one shot, one hit, one block and fittingly got in one fight in the second period against San Jose's Jeffrey Viel.
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• Parise put away his third goal in as many games and his seventh goal of the season. The goal marked his 400th career goal, as he became the 10th active player to do so.
• Nelson buried his team-leading 19th goal of the season and extended his goal streak to four games where he's also compiled five points (4G, 1A) during that span. Nelson's four-game goal streak ties a career-high.
• Pelech scored his third goal of the season and now has 12 points (3G, 12A) through 43 games.
• Defenseman Sebastian Aho recorded his sixth assist of the season (through 17 games) and now has helpers in three-straight games.
• Sorokin made his eighth-straight start and now has a 16-11-7 record. The Russian netminder also owns a 2.44 GAA, a .920 SV% and four shutouts.
• Oliver Wahlstrom returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 17 and skated alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee.
• Josh Bailey, Andy Greene and Ross Johnston were healthy scratches in San Jose.
• Since being activated from the Islanders' COVID non-roster on Feb. 21, Semyon Varlamov is looking to make his return to the net. The veteran goaltender has backed Sorokin for the last two games despite being activated. Varlamov has a 3-9-1 record, a 2.57 GAA and a .916 SV%.
• Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders in scoring with 36 points (12G, 24A) through 44 games and has seven points (1G, 6A) in five of his last six games.
• The Islanders penalty kill was 0-for-2 against San Jose, while their power play was 0-for-3. The Islanders allowed multiple power-play goals for the first time since Nov. 20, 2021. Their penalty kill ranks 11th in the NHL at 81.4% and their power play ranks 22nd overall at 18.2%.
• For the second-straight game the Islanders scored the opening goal. They are 14-4-5 when scoring first and are 5-16-3 when allowing the opening goal.

KINGS NOTES:

• Grundstrom tallied his seventh goal of the season and now has 10 points (7G, 3A) through 30 games.
• Kopitar posted a two-point (1G, 1A) outing and scored his 15th goal of the season and fifth power-play goal. The Kings captain leads his team in scoring with 49 points (15G, 34A).
• Kempe buried his team-leading 24th and 25th goals of the season. The Swedish center has totaled 35 points (25G, 10A) through 49 games. In three of his last four games, Kempe has posted two-goal outings.
• Quick made his 29th start of the season and improved his record to 14-10-6 record with his 24-save performance. The win marked his third-straight.
• LA has won four-consecutive games and five of their last six games.
• After going 1-for-3 on the power play, LA's extra-man unit ranks 24th in the NHL at 17.1%. Their penalty was 3-for-3 against Anaheim and ranks 28th in the league at 75.5%.
• The Kings rank sixth in the NHL at FOW% at 53.0%.
• LA averages the third-most shots per game in the NHL at 35.5%.
• The Kings were without Head Coach Todd McLellan on Friday as the bench boss was placed into COVID-19 protocols earlier in the day. Trent Yawney served as the interim Head Coach.