Snap Shots: Los Angeles Kings Vs New York Islanders

Welcome to Snap Shots, our condensed post-game recap of the New York Islanders latest NHL matchup

Los Angeles Kings vs New York Islanders

Start Time:  7:07pm EST      End Time:  9:28 EST

Announced attendance: 13,922

Starting Lineups

New York Islanders

29 Brock Nelson – 91 John Tavares – 21 Kyle Okposo
96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard – 51 Frans Nielsen – 12 Josh Bailey
40 Michael Grabner – 16 Peter Regin – 13 Colin McDonald
17 Matt Martin – 53 Casey Cizikas – 15 Cal Clutterbuck

47 Andrew MacDonald – 3 Travis Hamonic
14 Thomas Hickey – 46 Matt Donovan
55 Aaron Ness – 7 Matt Carkner

60 Kevin Poulin

Los Angeles Kings

Brown-Kopitar-Williams
King-Richards-Toffoli
Pearson-Vey-Lewis
Nolan-Fraser-Frattin

Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Martinez

Scrivens

Game Summary

This one hurts. The Islanders were really hanging with the LA Kings, one of the elite teams in the NHL. Then, they woke up, or didn’t as the case may be. The Islanders were giving the Kings all they could handle. You really thought hey, these guys are really playing some great hockey in front of Kevin Poulin.

But, they really just fell apart in the 3rd Period. What else is there to say? They played 2/3rds of a game and paid dearly for it. Young teams are going to make mistakes and they are going to occasionally let their foot off the gas. This is what happens when they do.

The Isles and Kings played a scoreless first, but the Isles struck first in the 2nd. Casey Cizikas scored his first of the season to give the Isles the 1-0 lead.  The Isles continued to dominate, and just 2:14 later Aaron Ness rewarded their hard work with a great one timer on a gorgeous pass from John Tavares. It was his first career goal, the Isles were up 2-0, and they went into the locker room flying high. But, something changed in the 3rd and the Kings dominated from start to finish.

It all came crashing down when Tyler Toffoli tipped one past a then visibly upset Kevin Poulin to give the Kings a 3-2 victory. This is a very disappointing way to treat the nearly 14,000 fans in attendance at the Coliseum tonight. The Isles seemingly had so much energy in front of their young netminder and then just like that, the lead, and the win, had vanished.

Statistics

Islanders : 25 Shots

Kings: 24 Shots

Faceoffs :Kings 31, Islanders 22

Turning Point

With the Islanders up 2-1, Colin McDonald took a silly checking to the head penalty on Trevor Lewis of the Kings. The Kings scored on ensuing Power Play on a goal that was upheld after replay. The puck barely slid past Kevin Poulin before he snatched it a millisecond too late. Once the Kings tied it, you knew what was coming. We have seen this movie before. The Isles have themselves to blame. Silly penalties like this will kill you every time. The Isles also do not win when they score less than 2 goals. It hurts not having that force in Thomas Vanek in the lineup, but Brock Nelson has not looked out of place. You can blame coaching, but that will only get you so far. Point is you have to show up to play for 60 minutes. And if you are in a close game, you cannot give the opposition anything to build on. The McDonald penalty did just that, and it really helped swing things the Kings’ way.

What’s Ahead

Things do not get any easier for the Isles. Saturday night the Detroit Red Wings, the Isles new conference rival, comes to town. The Isles have always fared pretty well against the Wings, and with Vanek back in the line up, Sat should hopefully not be any different. It will be interesting to see what coach Jack Capuano does with his lines, assuming Thomas Vanek does make his return after missing the past couple of games with an upper body injury.

Tough loss tonight. Tomorrow is another day.

-EB