Philip Danault and Quinton Byfield scored the clinching goals within a span of five minutes for the host Los Angeles Kings, who rode a potent penalty kill to a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
Vladislav Gavrikov opened the scoring in the first and Drew Doughty added a short-handed empty-netter late in the third for the Kings, who were 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves for the Kings and benefited from a pair of potential power-play goals by the Islanders that were overturned due to goalie interference by New York.
The Kings have won three straight to move within a point of the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division.
Anders Lee scored in the second period for the Islanders, who lost their second straight to end a three-game West Coast road trip at 1-2-0. New York remains five points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets in the race for the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Ilya Sorokin recorded 28 saves.
Gavrikov, positioned just above the right faceoff circle, gave the Kings the early lead by firing a sizzling shot under Sorokin’s glove arm with 4:27 left in the first.
Lee tied the game 8:37 into the second, when his shot from the slot sailed beyond Kuemper’s stick. But the game was knotted for just 37 seconds before Danault scored the go-ahead goal moments after teammate Warren Foegele forced a turnover by Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock deep in the New York zone.
Duclair had a potential game-tying goal overturned with 9:26 remaining in the period. The Kings doubled their lead with six minutes remaining, when Byfield collected an unassisted short-handed goal after Islanders defenseman Tony DeAngelo snapped his stick trying to collect a pass.
Lee had a potential second goal overturned with 2:05 left in the period.
Sorokin was pulled with a little under four minutes left in the game and Doughty iced the win by scoring a short-handed empty-netter with 1:17 remaining.
–Field Level Media
