On the heels of being named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week, Jon Quick stopped 28 of 29 to lead the Kings to victory over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Quick was named first star of the game.

My thought going into the game today was that I was a little worried about the Islanders. They’d lost three games in OT or shootout situations and played very tough, and it seemed like a potential recipe for disaster if the Kings were to roll into Long Island expecting to get two points just for showing up.

The Islanders did play a tough game today – outshooting the Kings 29-22 on the day and 11-4 in the first period. For all those 29 shots, the Isles didn’t have a ton of offensive dazzle though. Many of them came from the perimeter, although Quick did make his usual handful of dazzling saves throughout.

Seems to me like the ice at Nassau was particularly bad today. I know that’s a normal complaint at Staples, but the puck seemed to be bouncing even more than it does at home. That created problems for both teams offensively, although the Kings were much better at moving the puck around in the Islanders’ zone and were able to milk more quality chances out of their 22 shots than the NYI did out of 29.

Anze Kopitar broke a scoreless tie with under 2 minutes remaining in period 2 on the power play – the first power play goal the Islanders have allowed all season. Dustin Brown, tied up with the Islander defenseman in front of goalie Martin Biron, created  a perfect screen and Kopitar had time to peel toward the net and hit the water bottle on top of the net. It was a thing of beauty to behold, and even though Dustin Brown won’t show up on the scoresheet (Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams got the assists), he was instrumental on the play.

Kings stretched the lead to 2-0 when Jaret Stoll found Drew Doughty breaking into the zone and fed him a perfect pass. Doughty teed up and beat Biron high to the stick side. Not bad for a kid playing two days after almost losing 5 teeth and wearing a protective piece over his jaw!

The Kings backline corp put on a defensive clinic for most of the game but Jack Johnson should take Jon Quick out to dinner tonight – on the Islanders lone goal, Johnson sat in front of the net and watched the puck rather than clearing it, allowing former King Matt Moulson – with his newfound glorious mullet – to slip the puck past his screened goaltender. The Moulson goal broke Quick’s shutout bid with 1:55 left in the 3rd period, but that was as close as the Islanders would get.

After starting off in horrible fashion, the Kings penalty kill has been very solid, killing 10 straight penalties now going back to the third period against Minnesota last Thursday. The Kings Power Play was 1 for 3, keeping them at a 33.3% success rate this season.

Kopitar and Doughty have now scored points in 5 consecutive games and the Kings’ top line of Smyth, Kopitar and Williams now has 23 points in 5 games. For those of you following at home, that top line in Anaheim that everybody gushes about, has 9 total point – less than half the Kings’ top line point production.

The Kings are 4-1 to start the season for the first time since 1992-93. We all know what happened that season – though by no means am I predicting a finals run just yet. Also of note, in the “small victories” category – when we tuck into bed tonight, the Kings are in sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division and are a point behind Calgary for first in the Western Conference and two points behind Pittsburgh for first overall in the entire NHL. Of course, that all means very little in October. I’m not predicting a Pacific Division title this season, much less top seed in the West or the President’s Trophy – however it is cool to see, even if only for a short time and I think indicates that this team is better than most have anticipated. Within the next couple of seasons, seeing the Kings in such a place in the standings might become a regular occurence.

The road trip continues Wednesday at MSG against the Rangers, where Erik Ersberg will make his first start of the season in goal. My personal hope is to get two points out of the next two games vs. NYR and Detroit. If the Kings fare better than that, I’ll take it.

Kings and Rangers in Manhattan Wednesday night.

-JS

Kings continued a successful preseason by defeating the New York Islanders 4-1 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City tonight. Wayne Simmonds netted a pair of goals, one a 2nd period shorthanded marker and the other an empty netter; and Teddy Purcell and Drew Doughty scored power play goals.

The Islanders got goals from Andy Sutton and Josh Bailey.

Jonathan Quick went the distance in goal for the Kings picking up the win while Nathan Lawson was in net for New York.

The game featured two first period fights between the Kings’ Raitis Ivanans and Islander Brett Westgarth, brother of the Kings’ Kevin Westgarth. Kevin Westgarth and Richard Clune also dropped the gloves with Michael Haley, resulting in a Westgarth misconduct. Sean O’Donnell of the Kings was assessed a match penalty for coming to the aid of Drew Doughty, after he was deliberately high-sticked by Matt Martin of the Islanders. O’Donnell came from across the ice and was penalized for “intent to injure”. Martin, indcidentally was not penalized for the high stick to Doughty. O’Donnell’s match misconduct will face a league review and may be subject to suspension. Wayne Simmonds would also drop the gloves with Martin in the 3rd period.

The win moves the Kings to 3-1-1 in the preseason. The team travels to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

The Kings red hot road trip ended on Long Island last night with a tilt against the league-worst Islanders. There was much talk before the game about this being a “trap game” if you will. For most of the first two periods it looked to be exactly that.

The Kings looked like they were set to dominate the game in the first few minutes. Wayne Simmonds scored off a pass from brad Richardson to make it 1-0 Kings. Seemingly from the next face off until the last 2 minutes of the second period, the Kings looked completely uninspired. The Islanders came out hungry and the Kings had the look of a team that expected to come in and win easily. The New York forecheck caused the Kings to turn the puck over in their own zone many times. The Kings didn’t play a particularly physical game either – compared to the New Jersey game in particular, it looked more like the ice capades than an NHL hockey game.

The Islanders tied the score at 1 within 2 minutes of Simmonds’ opening goal and took the lead in the second period when Tim Jackman had a once-in-a-career moment, chipping a perfect shot from an impossible angle past the NHL’s reigning First Star of the Week, Jon Quick. The Kings tied it shortly afterward on a beautiful give and go play from Patrick O’Sullivan and Anze Kopitar, with Kopitar scoring into the open net from an impossible angle of his own to tie the game at two. Before the period ended, the Isles got a goal from Andy Hilbert to take a 3-2 lead. The Kings looked as if they were going to forfeit the last two points of this road trip, until a late power play in the second period gave them life.

Instead of the Kings kids protecting a lead in the third period, the found themselves trailing by a goal, and, they responded. Alexander Frolov scored a power play goal at 6:41 of the period and Islanders goalie Yann Danis held the fort for New York thew rest of regulation, giving them a point that, frankly they deserved. You kind of knew watching the latter part of the third though, that Danis was simply postponing the inevitable, and that sooner or later, the Kings were going to chip one by him and skate away with two points.

Jon Quick stopped all three Islanders’ shooters (Nielsen, Okposo and Bailey)in the shootout to improve to 2-0 in shootouts this season. The Kings’ Patrick O’Sullivan and Alexander Frolov failed to beat Danis, and after Bailey failed to score for the Islanders, the game’s fate rested with Jack Johnson. Johnson froze Danis with a fake and reached around him on the forehand, tucking the puck into the open side of the case to seal the win for the Kings.

So, having won 4 of 5 on this east coast swing (and, let’s be honest, if not for the horrible officiating in Montreal, they’d be riding an 8 game winning streak right now), the Kings return home to Los Angeles to face Calgary, who will be on their second of back-to-backs after facing Anaheim Wednesday night. The Kings will have an opportunity to extend their winning streak to five, which would be a season best.

Kings sit two points out of 8th in the Western Conference right now. It’s going to be one hell of a race to the end.

Kings take on the Flames at Staples Thursday night

-JS