The Los Angeles Kings wasted no time taking control Thursday night, overwhelming the New York Islanders with a relentless first period that saw Artemi Panarin score his first goal for the franchise while captain Anze Kopitar celebrated a historic milestone in his 1,500th NHL game.
The Los Angeles Kings (25-22-14) controlled the ice from the opening faceoff Thursday night, outshooting the New York Islanders (35-23-5) 19-5 in the first period and getting Artemi Panarin’s first goal with the franchise in a 1-0 start, prevailing to a 5-3 victory.
Los Angeles led the game for the entire time tonight, forcing 14 Islanders giveaways and sparking an impressive defensive effort to never give the Islanders a chance to make a run.
Los Angeles, from the opening tip, was very physical and played with tempo, outscoring the Islanders 19-5 in the first period, and defensively were forechecking the puck. It was a quality win by the Kings against an Islanders team that is a top-three team in the Metropolitan Division.
The start came at 16:43 in the first period when Artemi Panarin scored his first goal as a member of the Kings after finding himself completely unmarked from roughly ten feet from the net.
Panarin was very patient when he got the puck and shot the puck when there was an open look at the net past Ilya Sorokin to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead.
A big milestone was recorded tonight by Anze Kopitar, who was honored midway through the first period for playing in his 1,500th NHL game. The milestone makes Kopitar just the 25th player in league history to reach 1,500 games and only the eighth to do so with a single franchise.
Panarin's goal continued a long history of success against the Islanders, as he picked up his 19th career goal in 41 games against New York, along with 29 assists.
Los Angeles kept the pressure throughout the remainder of the period, holding a 1-0 lead to end the first. It should've been a much bigger lead because the Kings were generating a lot of good looks, but the Islanders' goaltender Sorokin was sharp, allowing no stick-on goal in the period.
In the second period, New York had plenty of power play opportunities to tie the game and even extend a lead, but it was very bad tonight, finishing 0/3, which even gave the Kings a chance to score twice on their power play.
Midway through the second period, the Kings extended their lead.
At 5:40 of the second, Samuel Helenius scored his fourth goal of the season, finishing the nice play off the assist from Jeff Malott and Taylor Ward, giving Los Angeles a 2-0 lead.
The Kings' fourth line was very impressive, giving good offense and energy from their young guys. Defensively, the team was strong tonight as well, led by Brandt Clarke. The Kings' energy was great, with forechecking pressure that made it tough for the Islanders to score.
Just over a minute after Helenius scored, defender Mikey Anderson got on the board, scoring his third goal of the season to extend the lead to 3-0. Drew Doughty and Adrian Kempe picked up assists on the goal as Anderson’s shot found its way past Sorokin with Kopitar providing a strong screen in front.
The Islanders, though, finally scored a miraculous goal with under one second remaining in the period, after winning a faceoff, Bo Horvat quickly snapped the shot to score his 26th goal of the season, a defensive breakdown from the Kings, clearly thinking it was off.
Still, the Kings didn't look fazed at all, and quickly built their lead in the third period after playing a near-perfect second period before giving up that late goal.
Two minutes into the final frame, Alex Laferriere scored a power-play goal to restore the three-goal lead, going coast-to-coast, snapping his shot inside the post on the blocker side, giving Los Angeles a commanding 4-1 lead.
The Islanders still kept fighting, answering two minutes later with a shorthanded goal, after a two-on-one rush by Adam Pelech, finishing the play to once again trim the lead down to two.
It didn't matter because every time the Islanders looked to have gained momentum and trimmed the lead, the Kings would quickly answer back with a big play on the ice.
At the 8:30 mark of the period, Adrian Kempe tipped a shot in front of the net to make it 5-2 Kings off the nice rush and feed from Clarke and Panarin. Clarke picked up his second assist of the night on the play, while Panarin recorded his second point of the game.
The Islanders would convert on a late goal after Emil Heineman scored off the deflection by Matthew Schaefer, with just two minutes remaining in regulation. But, the comeback would fall short, as the Kings would hold on down the stretch and secure the 5-3 victory at home.
Key Stats
Darcy Kuemper finished with 31 saves on 34 shots, finally playing a very good game coming off the Olympic break and injury. Meanwhile, Los Angeles finished with 35 shots to the Islanders' 34 and finished 1/3 on the power play, holding New York to 0/3.
Panarin and Kempe were both great for the Kings tonight, with each leading the team with two points, one goal, and one assist. Kopitar's milestone was also a great watch for the fans sitting in attendance at Crypto.com Arena, celebrating the historic King for all the great moments he's given to us over the years.
For Los Angeles, this is a great win because, coming off the Olympic break, they were 1-3 and looking like a team on the verge of giving up on the season, but a win like tonight could spark some momentum for them.
The Kings' next matchup will be against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, March 7, at 7:00 PM EST.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.