Islanders hit two posts in third period, can't find a way to get past Kings
Adrian Kempe #9 of the Los Angeles Kings celebrates his first period goal against Ilya Sorokin #30 of the Islanders with teammate Anze Kopitar #11 and Trevor Moore #12 at UBS Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Islanders had a chance for their first-three game winning streak of the season. They had a chance to move ahead of the Rangers for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot and to have more points than their New York rivals for the first time since Dec. 11, 2022. They had a chance to rise above NHL .500 for the first time since Nov. 14.
And, against the Kings, one of the NHL’s stronger teams, the Islanders had a chance to show they can be a legitimate contender after an inconsistent, injury-plagued start.
“We were looking forward to this,” Kyle Palmieri said. “It was a good test. The implications? I mean, it’s Game No. 30, there’s a long way to go here.”
Yet it was all there for the Islanders as they pushed the play in the third period. They just couldn’t find the equalizer in a 3-1 loss on Tuesday night at UBS Arena despite both defenseman Noah Dobson and Bo Horvat knocking shots off the post.
“We didn’t have a good first period,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a mix of turnovers, battle losses. But the thing I liked is we didn’t dig ourselves too big a hole.”
“We’ve just got to play like we did the last 40 [minutes],” said Anders Lee, who spun and deposited Palmieri’s feed to the slot to cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1 at 9:47 of the second period. “We couldn’t do anything right in the first 20. We were fumbling it, turning it over. Fed right into their game. We had to take a breath, just kind of settle in a little bit.”
The Islanders (11-12-7) started to advance through the neutral zone and started to win more puck battles by stepping up their physical game and not allowing the Kings to dictate play.
Mostly, though, the Islanders had acrobatic and locked-in Ilya Sorokin (27 saves) somewhat miraculously keeping it close. Defenseman Mikey Anderson finally clinched it with an empty-netter with 14 seconds remaining.
Yet while the Islanders were encouraged with their finish against the Kings (17-8-3), who have won six straight and eight of 10 as they opened a seven-game road trip, they lamented their missed chances. That was especially true of an 0-for-3 power play after going 2-for-2 in Sunday’s 4-2 win in Ottawa.
The Kings’ Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves.
“It was a pretty tight game,” Dobson said. “We definitely had our looks. Ilya gave us a chance. We just couldn’t find that next one. I think we look at it and take the things that we can clean up. We can do a little better job off the rush. The last couple of games we’ve given up too many chances off there.”
The Islanders were outshot 12-5 in the first period on Sunday but led 2-1with Lee getting a power-play goal.
Tuesday, the Kings held a 12-3 shot advantage after the first 20 minutes and led 1-0 despite the Islanders getting the period’s only two power plays. The Islanders managed just one shot in the first period skating five-on-five.
Adrian Kempe opened the scoring at 13:51 of the first period, stepping behind Maxim Tsyplakov to take Anze Kopitar’s feed to the post from behind the crease. Kevin Fiala upped the Kings’ lead to 2-0 at 3:09 of the second period with Sorokin screened.
“We had to step it up and match them in a bunch of different categories after that start,” Palmieri said.
Notes & quotes: Lee moved past John Tavares for eighth place on the Islanders’ all-time goals list with 273 . . . Top-liner Anthony Duclair (lower body/long-term injured reserve), out since Oct. 19, resumed skating with his teammates at Tuesday’s morning skate wearing an orange, non-contact jersey. Defenseman Adam Pelech (jaw/injured reserve), out since Nov. 1, continued to skate with teammates, also wearing a non-contact jersey. “Seeing him and Pelly wearing that orange jersey, it’s fun to have,” Roy said. “It shows that things are going well for them.” Still, Roy said there was no timetable for when either would be ready to play . . . Goalie Semyon Varlamov (lower body) missed his fourth game and Roy reported he has yet to resume skating. Marcus Hogberg continued to back up Sorokin . . . Defenseman Scott Mayfield (illness) was unavailable . . . Forward Hudson Fasching remained a healthy scratch.
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.
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