LOS ANGELES — The New York Islanders couldn’t have been more frustrated on Tuesday night.
Against the Kings, New York went scoreless on eight power plays, had two goals overturned for goalie interference and lost in a one-sided affair. LA won 4-1.
The Kings struck first in the opening period with blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov scoring on Ilya Sorokin, who had to deal with the Kings’ 6-on-5 attack after a delayed penalty.
The Isles dominated the beginning of the second period, with multiple grade-A looks and a goal from Anders Lee, who beat Darcy Kuemper on a shot that LA’s backstop would’ve liked a redo on.
“Darcy [Kuemper] is obviously a massive piece of our team,” said forward Phillip Danault postgame. “If he plays like this every night, we have a chance to do something good.”
Less than a minute later, Danault scored the eventual game-winner for the Kings, thriving off great puck movement from Warren Foegele and Trevor Moore. To add insult to injury, Anthony Duclair’s would-be goal was waived off because of goalie interference minutes later. This happened twice for the Islanders, which could’ve been the difference between a win or a loss.
Quinton Byfield took advantage of New York’s special teams issues by scoring a breakaway, shorthanded goal after Tony DeAngelo’s stick snapped, leaving Byfield alone. The tally was Byfield’s fourth in as many games and his first career shorthanded goal.
Drew Doughty scored LA’s only third-period goal, which arrived on the empty net. The Kings are now 3-0 since acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko at the trade deadline and have won three games in a row following their five-game skid. They also now have back-to-back games in which a defenseman scored.
“I’m disappointed that we put ourselves in a position to take eight penalties,” said head coach Jim Hiller. “It’s not the penalties so much, it’s how we played and clearly how we approached the game. That’s what I’m most disappointed in.”
The win was arguably the Kings’ ugliest of the year. But they’ll take it. LA now stands just one point behind second-place Edmonton and six points back of Pacific-leading Vegas—both of which dropped their most recent games.
Talk of Troy reporter Kasey Kazliner was on-site in Los Angeles and analyzed the 4-1 win on Skate of Thrones, TOT’s LA Kings podcast.