Los Angeles Kings Fall to New York Islanders in Shootout 2-1

Thursday night the Los Angeles Kings lost to the New York Islanders in a shootout. The final score of the game was 2-1.

Right out of the gate the pace was fast and teams were grinding down low. As the game went on there were ebbs and flows in momentum shifts. The Kings carried play for the most part, but they played into the Islanders game. By the third period, as the Kings got desperate, it was an end-to-end, attack on the rush style of hockey. The Islanders style of hockey.

The Islanders were able to hang on; prevailing in the shootout in two rounds. Both Islanders shooters, Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen scored, and neither Anze Kopitar nor Jeff Carter scored for the Kings.

To recap:

Nov 6, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo (21) scores in a shootout against Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) at Staples Center. Islanders won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

In the first period the Kings jumped out to the lead. A rebound kicked out to the side-boards toward the point. Jake Muzzin held the puck in for the Kings. Muzzin faked a slap-shot then passed the puck down along the boards to Mike Richards. Richards moved toward the bottom of the circle and fired a shot from along the boards. Richards’ shot hit Dwight King’s stick and deflected into the net. 1-0 Kings.

With 3:28 left in the first period, the Islanders tied the game on the power-play. John Tavares got to the puck in the Kings corner first and tipped it down low past Drew Doughty to Brock Nelson. Nelson walked out toward Quick’s glove side, the left side of the net. Nelson flicked a shot up high as Quick went down into the butterfly, putting it over Quick’s shoulder to tie the score, 1-1.

After the first period the Kings had 10 shots, the Islanders, 6.

There was no scoring in the second period.

7 minutes into the second period, Islanders defensemen Lubimear Vishnovsky slapped a dinger off the goal post on a slapshot from the point, during an Islander four-minute, double minor, power-play.

Almost halfway through the second the Islanders had 4 shots for the period; the Kings had 0. At that point the Kings had been on the penalty kill for 6-minutes out of the 9:30 played.

There was no scoring in the third period. In the third the Kings turned up the heat and desperation, recording 11 shots to the Islanders 5.

There was also no scoring in the overtime period. Jonathan Quick saw to that.

Quick saved the game on an incredible stop of Visnovsky’s one timer that came about five feet from the net. Visnovsky was all alone when teammate Thomas Hickey broke free down the right side wing. Hickey passed the puck past a sliding Drew Doughty, to Visnovsky who one-timed a snap-shot that looked like a for-sure game winner. Quick managed to get his glove-arm out while sliding across the net in his classic butterfly and make the save. Take a look:

After a marvelous performance during the game, Quick struggled during the shootout. Kyle Okposo, the Islanders first shooter, turned Quick around when Quick bit on a fake during Okposo’s deke. Frans Nielsen, who shot second, ripped a quick wrist-shot through Quick’s five-hole to end the game with a victory for the Islanders.

Quick, immediately furious with himself, went to break his stick on the goal-post. However, the recent experience from October 28th’s loss to Philadelphia in overtime – where Quick received a 10-minute misconduct for the same behavior; quickly changed his mind. Quick instead skated right off to the locker room.

Quick’s effort was still enough to give him first star honors for the game. It was well deserved. Quick, again, kept the Kings in the game as they continued to pour on chances without effecting results.

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