Kings Survive Islanders Push as Anze Kopitar Nears History

NEW YORK – The Los Angeles Kings are searching for consistency amid recent roster and coaching upheaval as they push for a playoff spot in an especially crowded Western Conference race. 

Playing their third game of a five-game road trip, they potentially discovered a measure of positivity with a hard-earned 3-2 win over the New York Islanders at UBS Arena. 

The Kings, clad in their road white, silver, and black, dominated the first period and went into intermission ahead 3-0 thanks to goals from Trevor Moore, Anze Kopitar, and Adrian Kempe. 

But they had to work hard over the final 40 minutes to secure their second win in the first three road games of this trip, which continues in New Jersey against the Devils on Sunday, then concludes versus the Rangers on Monday at Madison Square Garden.

Los Angeles received stellar netminding from Darcy Keumper, who made 21 saves to improve to 16-13-10.  

And at the buzzer, the Islanders lined up to shake hands one by one with the 38-year-old Kopitar, the Kings captain who will retire after his 20th NHL season – all with the Kings. 

The Kings wanted to pounce on the Islanders, who hadn’t played a home game since March 1. The strategy worked. 

“There’s a lot of desperation in our game,’’ said Kings interim head coach D.J. Smith, who replaced Jim Hiller behind the bench on March 1. “That’s a playoff team, with a lot of high-end talent. We knew they were coming back from a long road trip.”

Moore started the early barrage with his eighth goal, beating Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin unassisted 3:43 into the contest. 

Kopitar – playing his 1,504th career game – notched his eighth from in close – the 448th goal of his storied career – at 13:07. That moved the Slovenian star within one point of Kings legend Marcel Dionne for the all-time franchise points record of 1,307. Dionne last played for the Kings in March 1987.

Kopitar has eight goals and 28 points overall in 50 games. His 448 career goals are third behind Dionne’s 550 and Luc Robitaille’s 557 with the Kings.

“He’s been around a long time. It’s like having another coach out there,’’ Smith said. “He knows where the puck should go. He’s not going to panic under a certain situation. And he’s a big man. You’re not going to take the puck from him. He understands how to play the game. He’s the leader of this group and he’s played really well.” 

Kempe added his team-leading 26th goal, shoveling a pass from Panarin past Sorokin at 18:28.  

Emil Heineman ruined Kuemper’s shutout bid at 10:46 of the middle period, then scored again at 3:38 of the third to make it a tense one-goal game. 

The Islanders were buzzing in the Kings’ end for more than a minute at one stretch midway through as Mathew Barzal and super rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer circled and circled before Keumer stopped a snapshot by Barzal.

With 2.9 seconds left, the Islanders had a power play but with only enough time for a faceoff play, New York ran out of time and the Kings could exhale. Los Angeles was one point ahead of San Jose and two points above Seattle and Nashville for the second and final wild card spot following Friday’s play.

“Give them credit, they had all kinds of attempts,’’ Smith said of the tenacious Islanders. “Sometimes you push, sometimes they push. With the game on the line, we made a lot of good plays.”

Kings center Alex Turcotte, who assisted with defenseman Mikey Anderson on Kopitar’s goal, marveled at his teammate’s veteran skill as he inched close to the special milestone in the waning days of his NHL career.

“He’s obviously one of the best 200-foot players ever,’’ the 25-year-old Turcotte said. “He got the puck to me, I got the puck to Mikey and Mikey made a great play to him. It’s obviously pretty cool playing with him. I’ve learned so much.” 

Anderson concurred.

“Anze means so much to the organization and the city of LA. He’s chasing it down. Everyone is rallying for him’’ the 26-year-old defenseman said. “He’s getting the recognition he deserves. It has been a blessing getting to know him.” 

The Islanders, returning from a four-game trip on which they lost twice – including 5-3 in Los Angeles on March 5 – are 2-3-0 since winning five straight in a span before and after the Olympic break.  

The Islanders are 1-9-0 in their last 10 games against the Kings, the only win a 3-2 overtime victory on December 9, 2023, at UBS Arena. 

Maybe good fortune also was with the Kings on Long Island calendar-wise, as they won a regular-season game on a Friday the 13th for just the third time in franchise history. The previous two were a 5-0 home win over Boston on October 13, 2000, and a 6-5 victory at Vancouver on October 13, 1989. 

This article by Allen Kreda first appeared in The Sporting Tribune