Islanders come up empty on 8 power plays in loss to L.A. Kings
Islanders right wing Simon Holmstrom and left wing Anders Lee battle for the puck against Los Angeles Kings center Phillip Danault and defenseman Mikey Anderson during the first period of an NHL game Tuesday in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Eric Thayer
LOS ANGELES — The Islanders played easily their best game of their now-concluded, playoff-damaging, three-game California trip, creating pressure and eight power plays in an engaged performance.
It’s a small consolation, though. The Kings, who rarely lose at home, won, 4-1, on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. And the second period just exemplified a tough season for the Islanders, who had two potential power-play goals overturned for goalie interference and gave up a shorthanded goal because of a stick malfunction.
“All night we battled,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “We knew it was going to be tight, playing a good team. I thought we did a pretty good job. A couple of unfortunate breaks. The stick on the one goal and a couple of goals disallowed. We had other chances, too. We just weren’t able to finish.”
As a result, the Islanders (29-28-7), who got 28 saves from Ilya Sorokin, finished 0-for-8 on the power play despite 16 shots, unable to convert on a third-period, five-on-three that lasted 1 minute, 1 second. So they remained five points out of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with time becoming precariously short in the regular season.
“Yeah, we played well but, this time of the year, there’s no moral victories,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “We need the two points.”
Darcy Kuemper stopped 33 shots for the Kings (34-20-9), who improved to an NHL-best 21-3-4 at home. Defenseman Drew Doughty capped the scoring with an empty-net shorthander at 18:43 of the third period.
The road trip started with Saturday’s 4-2 win over the NHL-worst Sharks, a game in which the Islanders did nothing particularly well. They followed that with a 4-1 loss to Ducks on Sunday, again getting off to a sluggish start without a physical edge to their game.
That was not the case against the Kings as the Islanders carried a good portion of the play over the final 40 minutes.
“We did a lot of good things,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a lot of good chances. A lot of Grade-As. The second and third periods were probably our best of the road trip. It’s too bad, sometimes.
“We just found a way to lose that game. How many times do you see on the power play, receive a pass and have a broken stick and go on a breakaway and get scored on? It’s hard to believe sometimes when those things happen.”
Roy tweaked his bottom six, elevating Pierre Engvall to Casey Cizikas’ third line with Maxim Tsyplakov while flip-flopping Hudson Fasching to Kyle MacLean’s left wing on the fourth line along with Marc Gatcomb. But Roy was displeased with Tsyplakov making two turnovers on the sequence that led to Phillip Danault connecting from the slot for a 2-1 lead at 9:14 of the second period after Anders Lee slipped a shot through Kuemper’s pads to tie it at 8:37.
“Tsyppy had a horrible turnover, actually two on that same play,” Roy said. “He’s needs to be better than that.”
Anthony Duclair, at the crease, appeared to pull the Islanders back into a second tie on the power play at 10:34. But the Kings successfully challenged that Simon Holmstrom interfered with Kuemper as his skate pulled the goalie via his glove.
“I think the first one should be allowed,” Roy said. “If you look in the rule book 69.7 saying that if you take a shot on net and there’s a rebound, it should be intentional contact. In my opinion, that should be a goal.”
To quote Rule 69.7: “In a rebound situation, or where a goalkeeper and attacking player(s) are simultaneously attempting to play a loose puck, whether inside or outside the crease, incidental contact with the goalkeeper will be permitted, and any goal that is scored as a result thereof will be allowed.”
Then, Tony DeAngelo had his stick shatter at the Islanders’ blue line, leading to Quinton Byfield’s shorthanded breakaway to make it 3-1 at 14:00.
Lee’s apparent power-play goal at 17:55 as he lifted a backhander over Kuemper was overturned as the Kings successfully challenged that Lee’s back leg pushed the goalie backward.
Roy said he was OK with that call. But Lee disagreed.
“I always understood the rule as to the contact inhibits the goalie to make the save,” Lee said. “I don’t think that contact was the reason why he didn’t make the save.”
The Kings took a 1-0 lead on defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov’s blast over Sorokin’s glove on a delayed penalty, 40 seconds after DeAngelo was caught slashing Warren Foegele.
Notes & quotes: Center MacLean returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s loss because of illness … Defenseman Scott Mayfield was a healthy scratch for the fifth time in eight games … Defenseman Adam Boqvist took a hard check from Kevin Fiala at 4:47 of the second period and did not return. Roy had no postgame update … The Islanders’ last 18 losses have all come in regulation.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
