Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Mikey Anderson scored on Tuesday night for the Los Angeles Kings, who continued surging with a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.
Kempe also had an assist and Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for the Kings, who extended the NHL’s longest active winning streak to six games.
Anders Lee scored in the second for the Islanders, whose two-game winning streak ended. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin recorded 27 saves.
Persistence resulted in the goals by Kempe and Fiala.
Kempe scored with 6:09 left in the first to cap a lengthy sequence. Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov’s shot sailed wide right of the net and skittered toward Islanders right winger Maxim Tsyplakov and Los Angeles left winger Trevor Moore, who battled for the puck for a few seconds before Moore finally gained possession.
Moore passed to Anze Kopitar, who was stationed behind the net and shuffled the puck until Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock broke to the right of Sorokin. Kopitar then fed an open Kempe, who beat Sorokin over his stick shoulder from point-blank range.
The Kings doubled the lead in similar fashion 3:09 into the second. Joel Edmundson split Islanders right winger Simon Holmstrom and defenseman Grant Hutton near the New York crease but couldn’t fully get off a shot. Edmundson collected the loose puck off the boards and passed to Fiala, whose shot from above the left faceoff circle sailed beyond Sorokin’s glove as he was screened by Hutton and Los Angeles center Samuel Helenius.
The Islanders cut the gap in half with 10:13 left in the period. Kyle Palmieri’s shot into the crease glanced off the stick of Lee, who spun around Gavrikov and sent a shot under Kuemper’s stick.
The Islanders outshot the Kings 7-5 in the third and came close to the equalizer twice in the final seven minutes, when shots by Noah Dobson and Bo Horvat hit the post. Sorokin was pulled with about 90 seconds left, but New York didn’t generate a shot before Anderson iced the win with a length-of-the-ice empty-netter with 14 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
