The Los Angeles Kings continued their win streak on Tuesday night with a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders. After losing five straight, they have bounced back to win three in a row and continue to build momentum heading into Thursday night's game against the Washington Capitals.
For most of the game against the Islanders, the Kings held the lead with Vladislav Gavrikov scoring the first goal of the game, and the only one in the first period. The Islanders would tie it up in the second but less than a minute later Phillip Danault responded to give the Kings the lead back.
They would add two more goals in the game with Quinton Byfield scoring a short-handed goal in the second before Drew Doughty added an empty-net goal late in the third. These are some of the top takeaways from the game on Tuesday night.
Way too many penalties
While the Kings controlled the scoreboard, it was a pretty sloppy game from them as they would give the New York Islanders eight power play opportunities. Fortunately for them, the Islanders are the worst power play team in the NHL and they really couldn't capitalize.
There was two instances that the Islanders thought they had goals but the Kings were successful in challenging both of them. If one or both of those were confirmed as goals, it could have been a very different game. They can't afford to give the Capitals this many power play opportunities if they hope to continue their win streak.
Mikey Anderson big part of the penalty kill
One of the big reasons for the Kings success in killing penalties was defenseman Mikey Anderson who had 11:46 of short-handed time on the ice. For most of the season, Anderson has been one of the top defensemen on the Kings and with him now back next to Drew Doughty there is no reason to believe that can't continue.
Darcy Kuemper was locked in
In addition to the penalty kill doing well, Darcy Kuemper had an excellent night in net as he allowed only one goal. He would stop 33 of 34 shots on the night, including 16 on power play.
For most of the season, Kuemper has been very good in net for the Kings but recently had a rough stretch where he allowed 10 goals in two games, which the Kings lost both. However, since then he is 2-0-1 and allowed only four goals total. If the Kings hope to make it out of the first round of the playoffs, they are going to need this type of performance in the playoffs.
Quinton Byfield continues to find the net
One player who has been excellent as of late has been Quinton Byfield, who now has a goal in four straight games. He would score the goal against the Islanders in the second period when they were actually short-handed.
Byfield has been showing flashes of pieces of his game and in February led the league in assists with 11. More recently, it has been his shot as like his overtime winner against the St. Louis Blues or the one he had last night.
Kings' 4th line looks great in limited minutes
With how much the Kings spent on the penalty kill against the Islanders, their fourth line didn't play much. The trio of Samuel Helenius, Tanner Jeannot, and Alex Turcotte only played around seven minutes but they made the most of their minutes combining for seven hits and four shots.
The addition of Andrei Kuzmenko moved Turcotte down to the fourth line next to the physical forwards of Helenius and Jeannot. This has been a winning formula, as these players have looked really good and have fixed an issue that has been prevalent for most of the season.