Islanders give up 3 in 2nd, fall to Kings
Phillip Danault, Arthur Kaliyev and Gabriel Vilardi scored in the second period and the Los Angeles Kings ended a twogame skid by defeating the Islanders 3-2 on Friday night.
Jonathan Quick made 16 saves for his 370th career victory, moving into 19th place on the NHL’s all-time list. Quick also surpassed Tom Barrasso for third place on the career victories list by a U.S.-born goaltender, trailing only John Vanbiesbrouck (374) and Ryan Miller (391).
Noah Dobson and Adam Pelech scored, and Ilya Sorokin finished with 25 saves but the Islanders’ two-game winning streak ended as they fight for a playoff spot in a tightly contested Eastern Conference wild-card race.
The Kings scored their three goals in a span of 5:34 to take a 3-0 lead.
Danault opened the scoring when he put home a rebound at 6:40 of the second frame after Viktor Arvidsson hammered a slap shot that Sorokin failed to swallow up. Mikey Anderson also assisted on the play.
Los Angeles took advantage of
Sebastian Aho’s neutral zone miscue to double its lead 1:25 after Danault’s goal. Rasmus Kupari gained control of the puck misplayed by Aho and beautifully fed Kaliyev for the easy one-time finish.
Vilardi notched his 18th of the season at 12:14 to cap the Kings’ assertive stretch. The 23-year-old forward launched a one-timer that sailed past the blocker of Sorokin.
Dobson helped the Islanders trim their deficit to two when he tallied a power-play goal at 16:34 of the second. On the previous shift, Kyle Palmieri’s individual effort allowed the Islanders to maintain possession in the offensive zone and eventually led to Sean Walker’s penalty.
The Kings outshot the Islanders 24-13 through the first 40 minutes.
Pelech pulled the Islanders to within one goal when he tossed a backhand shot to the top of the crease that deflected off Kings defenseman Matt Roy and past Quick at 15:23 of the third period. Matt Martin extended his point streak to four games with an assist on the play.
The teams will meet again in Southern California on March 14 to close out their season series.