The LA Kings got back in the win column during Anze Kopitar's 1,500th career NHL regular-season game, as Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith collected his first win with the organization, in a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
Coming off a tenacious start to the game, the Kings capitalized early as the top line connected on Artemi Panarin’s first goal of the game. Off an extended shift in the offensive zone, forward Anze Kopitar forced a turnover along the boards, before he sent a no-look pass to Panarin in the left-hand circle. Panarin delayed, outwaited Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin and buried his shot, inside the post and in, for the early 1-0 advantage.
The Kings doubled their lead late in the second period as the fourth line delivered with another strong shift for the 2-0 lead. Forward Taylor Ward knocked back a clearing attempt at the blueline, finding forward Jeff Malott in the slot. Malott made a nice backhanded pass to forward Samuel Helenius, who buried his fourth goal of the season from the left-hand circle to put the hosts up by a pair.
Just 91 seconds after the Helenius goal, defenseman Mikey Anderson made it 3-0 Kings with a shot from the left point. Coming out of the corner, forward Adrian Kempe worked the puck up the wall to Anderson up high. Anderson exchanged passes with defenseman Drew Doughty along the blueline, before he wound up and fire through a Kopitar screen and in for the three-goal advantage.
After the second period appeared to be done, the officials put one second back on the clock, with the Islanders in the offensive zone. Forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau won the draw back to forward Bo Horvat, who shot it first time, past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in to get the Islanders on the board with 0.3 seconds remaining, sending the game into the intermission at 3-1.
Early in the third period, the Kings restored their three-goal advantage with a power-play goal. Forward Alex Laferriere did the bulk of the work on the play, as he weaved his way through the neutral zone, down the right side of the slot and placed a wrist shot past Sorokin, off the inside of the far post and into the back of the net for his 15th goal of the season and a 4-1 lead.
New York pushed back with a special-teams goal of its own, however, with Pageau once again playing the role of facilitator. Pageau led a 2-on-1 rush the other way, created in some ways by a mis-timed line change by the Kings. He then threaded a pass through to defenseman Adam Pelech, who had joined the rush, before the big defenseman buried from the left side of the slot to pull the Islanders back within two goals.
The Kings pushed back once again as three of their best offensive plays delivered with a pretty goal off the rush. Panarin started the sequence, as he snapped a hard pass to defenseman Brandt Clarke, attacking down the right wing. Clarke delayed before he hit forward Adrian Kempe driving the net, where he buried his team-leading 23rd goal of the season to make it 5-2, giving all three players involved multiple points in the game.
After several minutes of playing 6-on-5, the Islanders scored a goal to cut the deficit to two goals. Attacking in the offensive zone, New York blueliner Matthew Schaefer got a shot through from the center point, with forward Emil Heineman getting a deflection on the way through, bringing the visitors to within the final goal at 5-3.
Hear from Kopitar, Kempe and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith after tonight's victory over the Islanders.
