3 Takeaways: Islanders Drop 5-2 Decision to Kings

The New York Islanders dropped a 5-2 decision to the blazing-hot Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena. With the regulation loss, the Islanders' point streak ended at four games (2-0-2).
Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Islanders, while Noah Dobson posted two assists. Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves on 34 shots in his first game since Feb. 2. Both Mathew Barzal and Zdeno Chara suffered second period injuries.

Los Angeles' fifth-straight victory featured even-strength goals from Phillip Danault, Matt Roy (1G, 1A), Quinton Byfield, Brendan Lemieux and Trevor Moore (empty net). Cal Petersen made 26 saves on 28 shots in the win.
Despite the Islanders' excellent effort against San Jose, where they put up a season-high 47 shots, but fell short 4-3 in a shootout, some bad habits bit them against the Kings. They executed an undisciplined effort on Saturday night with five penalties, gave up nine giveaways and surrendered the opening goal of the game as well as a goal in the final minute of play in a period.
"It's very disappointing based on our strong performance that we had in San Jose," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "To start, we lost every battle. The first period, Varlamov was the reason that it was close enough that we had a chance. I thought in the second - believe it or not that we regrouped - after they got a lucky or easy goal to start the period. I thought our game stabilized… But some of the things that have plagued us this year; the start, there's no excuse. That goal at the end of the [second] period crushed us; it took us out of the game. We had too many guys that weren't ready to go off the start and some guys didn't bring their A-games."

BAD HABITS BURDEN ISLES

After scoring the opening goal for two-straight games, the Islanders had to chase the game - a trend that haunted them for a stretch of 13 games prior - as they dug themselves into a 2-0 hole after 20 minutes of play and a 3-0 hole after 21 minutes of play.
LA showed no fatigue despite playing the night prior and picking up a 4-1 win over Anaheim, as they came out with some jump and took advantage with their first strike at 3:43. On a quick transition play, Trevor Moore outmuscled Dobson and made a nice spin move to set up a trailing Danault in the slot. Danault tucked his one timer on a wide-open net for the game's icebreaker.
KINGS 5, ISLES 2
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Shortly after having to kill off an LA power play at 4:10, the Islanders fell flat while the Kings maintained their momentum and made it 2-0 at 7:51. Anze Kopitar fed Roy through the seam for a one-timer on the backdoor.
A fluke play just 56 seconds into the second period extended LA's lead 3-0 as Byfield's faceoff win deflected off the sticks of Cal Clutterbuck and Adam Pelech to slip five-hole through Varlamov.
"It wasn't a good enough start," Lee said. "The way we played the other night we wanted to come out and repeat that effort with the number of chances that were created. We didn't do that to start the game. Then we settled in and found ourselves in a position to come back, a lot of hockey left, but timely goals against have been killing us."
The Islanders managed to cut their deficit down 3-1 at 9:47. Lee buried his 14th goal of the season over Petersen's glove on a slick feed from Dobson.
The goal and a subsequent power-play opportunity gave the Islanders some traction, but they weren't able to capitalize and went down 4-1 with a deflating goal in the final minute of the period. On an odd-man rush, Lemieux opted for the shot and beat Varlamov with 29 seconds left in the second frame. The goal marked the fifth time since Jan. 1 that the Islanders have surrendered a goal against in the final minute of a period.

With a shortened bench in the third period - as a result of Barzal and Chara each suffering second-period injuries - the Islanders didn't let down and outshot the Kings 13-9. The Islanders generated some promising looks, many of which came from Dobson, who showcased his smooth skating and slick stickhandling and finished the game with four shots - and set up Pageau for a late goal at 18:44 to cut LA's lead down 4-2. Dobson wired a long-range shot that Pageau cleaned up, roofing the rebound past a sprawled-out Petersen.
The two-goal deficit was short lived as the Kings iced the game's final score 5-2 with Moore's empty net goal at 19:43

VARLAMOV RETURNS

Varlamov returned to the pipes for the first time since Feb. 2, making his first start being placed in COVID-19 protocols on Feb. 12. Varlamov was the expected starter to play against Calgary on Feb. 12 but was pulled due to a positive COVID-19 test. Varlamov missed the next three games in protocols and had backed up the Islanders most recent two contests. In total, Varlamov hadn't played in the Islanders last eight games prior to Saturday, where he stopped 30-of-34 shots.
"What gave us a chance to come back was Varly, not only on the penalty kill, but the whole game," Pageau said. "He was there and gave us a chance every period to come back and tie the game. There was definitely some good stuff we can build on in the third."
Varlamov had his work cut out for him early on as he faced 11 shots in the first period. Despite giving up two goals, the netminder made big stops throughout the period including on a Kopitar wrist shot three minutes into the game and a late point-blank chance from Viktor Arvidsson in the low slot.
The busy night continued for the goaltender where he saw 15 shots in the second period and lessened in the third period with nine shots against. Despite the Kings scoring on a fluke sequence and a deflating last-minute goal both in the second period, Varlamov was overall solid and helped his team to a 5-for-5 execution against LA's five power play opportunities.
The veteran netminder's record dropped to 3-10-1 with the loss.

UPDATES ON BARZAL AND CHARA

Barzal and Chara both suffered second-period injuries and did not return for the third period. Trotz did not have updates on neither Barzal nor Chara.
"No, I don't [have an update] on the timeframes," Trotz said. "It's a lower body [Barzal] and an upper body [Chara]."
During the Islanders' second power play of the game, the centerman collided along the boards with Danault. Barzal immediately went down in pain and after the play ceased, required assistance off the ice. The centerman returned for one shift and did not play the rest of the game.
Barzal had assisted on Lee's goal - and extended his point streak to three games with four assists during that span - logged 8:18 of time on ice, had two hits, one shot and one key block on Kopitar in the second period. The electric 24-year-old is a crucial driver for the Islanders' offense and leads the team in scoring with 37 points (12G, 35A) through 45 games.
Since joining the Islanders full-time in 2016, Barzal has only ever missed a handful of games in his career - none of which were due to injury. Late last season, Barzal was healthy scratched as a precaution as the Islanders were poised for a deep playoff run.
This season, Barzal was sidelined for three games due to being placed in COVID-19 Protocols in mid-December.
Chara, who skated in his 1,653rd NHL game after officially obtaining sole possession of most games played by an NHL defenseman last game at (1,652), did not return for the third period due to an upper-body injury. Chara logged 8:55, threw three hits and blocked two shots.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders conclude the California portion of their road trip as they head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.