At the Rink: Kings at Islanders

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Is anything in hockey more difficult than winning the Stanley Cup?

According to Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter, the answer is yes.

"It's more difficult to make the [Stanley Cup] playoffs in this League than it is to win the Stanley Cup," Sutter said.

Sutter has won the Stanley Cup twice in the past three seasons, and Thursday the Kings will try to move into a playoff spot with a defeat of the New York Islanders (7 p.m. ET; SN360, SNO, SNW, SNP, FS-W, MSG). The Kings have 86 points and trail the idle Calgary Flames by one point for third place in the Pacific Division.

"It's do-or-die time now," Kings defenseman Alec Martinez said. "You can lose a spot or gain a spot in a night you're not even playing. These are really important points and this is a big road trip for us."

Los Angeles started the season 1-4-4 on the road, but is 14-14-7 away from home on the season, including 5-0-1 record in its past six road games.

"We haven't been real happy with our road record over the course of the season," Martinez said. "I think that's something that we've taken a focus on. If you want to win the whole thing you have to be able to win on the road. It's really important, especially this time of year."

Defenseman Jake Muzzin said the Kings still have work to do despite a 7-2-2 run in the past 11 games.

"It's the time now where everyone bears down and a little more urgency," Muzzin said. "Coming down to the end of the road here points are very crucial. We keep climbing in the standings but we aren't where we want to be. So we have to continue getting better to get there."

While the Kings are on the outside looking in, the Islanders are trying to earn as many points as possible to gain home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference First Round. They are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"[Home ice] is definitely the main goal," Islanders forward Kyle Okposo said. "We know where we are at in the standings. To get home ice would be huge. We didn't have it a couple of years ago [against Pittsburgh in 2012], and it definitely is a big thing in a seven-game series.

"It will probably be a playoff-type game. I'm sure they are obviously going to play hard. They need the points and they are a good hockey team. They are the Stanley Cup champions for a reason."

The Kings won the first two games of their five-game road trip, beating the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. Six of their final nine regular-season games are on the road.

"This is a big, physical team that we are playing tonight," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said of the Kings. "Stanley Cup champions. Kind of get a blueprint of what the playoffs are going to look like when you play a team like this. So this is a good challenge for our young guys and some guys who want to try and stay in the lineup."

New York has lost its past five games at Nassau Coliseum (0-4-1).

"We obviously want to win at home," Okposo said. "We've hit a little bit of a rough patch at home, but [2-1 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday] I thought was definitely a step in the right direction."

Although the Islanders and Kings don't play each other often, Sutter praised the Islanders' depth.

"You look at their fourth line, they have 20-something goals," he said. "It's pretty significant in this League. The top of their lineup with John Tavares, he's a star player and could win the scoring race. But the depth of their team is pretty significant in the League when you look at the production they get from guys who don't get a lot of credit."

Martinez agreed.

"[The Islanders] have a really high-powered offense," he said. "It's a good test for us. They have really good starts in this building so we have to come prepared."

Here are the projected lineups:

KINGS

Marian Gaborik - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams

Dwight King - Jeff Carter - Tyler Toffoli

Kyle Clifford - Mike Richards - Jordan Nolan

Dustin Brown - Nick Shore - Trevor Lewis

Jake Muzzin - Drew Doughty

Robyn Regehr - Andrej Sekera

Alec Martinez - Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick

Martin Jones

Scratched: Andy Andreoff, Jamie McBain, Brayden McNabb

Injured: Jarret Stoll (upper body), Tanner Pearson (leg)

ISLANDERS

Josh Bailey - John Tavares - Kyle Okposo

Anders Lee - Brock Nelson - Ryan Strome

Nikolay Kulemin - Frans Nielsen - Tyler Kennedy

Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Calvin de Haan - Travis Hamonic

Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk

Brian Strait - Thomas Hickey

Jaroslav Halak

Michal Neuvirth

Scratched: Michael Grabner, Eric Boulton, Colin McDonald, Matt Donovan

Injured: Mikhail Grabovski (upper body), Lubomir Visnovsky (lower body)

Status report: Visnovsky, who hasn't played since March 13 because of a lower-body injury, skated but will not play. … Grabovski has missed 15 games; he hasn't played since sustaining an upper-body injury Feb. 19. "My guess is Monday or Tuesday of next week we will be able to get a better of idea of where he stands," Capuano said. … Pearson (leg) skated but has missed 31 games and will not play.

Who's hot: Kopitar has one goal and six assists in four games. … Gaborik has a three-game point streak, during which he has two goals and two assists. … Tavares has four goals and five assists in his past nine games.

---