FINAL – Kings 3, Islanders 1 – Fiala, Kopitar, Hiller

The LA Kings made it six consecutive victories, as they began a seven-game roadtrip with a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday evening at UBS Arena.

The Kings came out of the gates flying in the first period, scoring the game’s first goal after a strong opening 20 minutes. The goal once again came via a combination between the team leader in points, Anze Kopitar, and the team leader in goals, Adrian Kempe. Kopitar was stationed in the office behind the net, with lots of time, and eventually fed Kempe charging towards the crease, with the Swede burying first time for the goal, his 14th of the season.

Early in the second period, the Kings doubled their advantage through forward Kevin Fiala, who buried his tenth goal of the season. Fiala made the play happen, starting from the left point, as he danced around a defender and worked his way into the slot. With forward Samuel Helenius providing the screen, Fiala picked his spot, top left corner, and buried his shot for a 2-0 lead.

Midway through the second period, the hosts opened their account for the evening. Forward Kyle Palmieri’s shot from the right point was deflected and caught by linemate Anders Lee in the slot. Lee spun to his forehand and placed his shot past Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper through the five hole to bring the Islanders to within 2-1.

Inside the final minute of regulation, defenseman Mikey Anderson iced the game with an empty-net goal, his fourth goal of the season, bringing us to the 3-1 final. Kempe tallied the lone assist on the play to complete a multi-point night.

Hear from Fiala, Kopitar and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s win over the Islanders.

Kevin Fiala

Anze Kopitar
On the win tonight and starting off the trip with two points
The start was I think one of the better starts that we had, really one of the better periods that we’ve had this year, so obviously important. They’re a stingy team that can sting you pretty quick, so we wanted to make sure we keep on going. The second period maybe got a little bit loose, but then when it was time to tighten it up again, I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part. The mistakes that were made Darcy was big for us back there.

On his second-nature chemistry with Adrian Kempe on their goal tonight
We’ve played together enough to where he knows what I’m going to do and I’ve got a pretty good idea with where he’s going to be and how he’s going to react in certain situations. So, yeah, I mean, the chemistry has been there and hopefully we can keep it going.

On the addition of Trevor Moore to their line over the last few games
It certainly seems that way right now. We’ve been, the last few games, we’ve been going pretty good. It always takes a few games to get adjusted for Trevor coming on the line, and then for me and Adrian to make sure that we know where he’s going to be at. It seems like the things and the plays are clicking.

On the team’s faceoff wins and forechecking efforts tonight
I mean, personally, I’m not built for chasing pucks around all over the ice, so I’d like to win just to start with possession. I mean, it’s a possession game nowadays, so if you can start with the puck it’s pretty big advantage.

Jim Hiller
On the start tonight and how the Kings played
Excellent. You know, you’re not sure how you’re going to come out, we flew all the way out here, all that kind of stuff and that was probably one of our best periods of the year. I’m disappointed we couldn’t sustain it, in the second period we started turning it over, got a little bit too active with our D, I thought the second half of the second period we got it back on track again.

On getting through the third period and how the team handled that situation
I thought we were good the first 12,13 minutes in the third, I thought we played good, and then they pushed, give them credit, little bit lucky with some posts and some good saves by the goalie, or that one would have been square. So, I didn’t like the last six or seven minutes, but just liked the fact that we’ve been finding a way, despite not being perfect, to get it done.

On Kevin Fiala’s performance tonight
Absolutely, I think he played more than any other player tonight, or any other forward at least. I can’t remember him playing better than that, so that was really good to see. I thought Phil fit in that category too. I thought Phil Danault had his best game that I can remember. He did a lot of stuff, blocked shots, faceoffs, so I really liked Phil the whole game too.

On Darcy Kuemper’s game since coming back from injury
The goaltending, and Ilya played pretty well on the other side, the goaltending in the end, has a pretty big say in the outcome. Darcy was good when he needed to be, I think, two posts, three maybe, so we had that on our side, which we’ll take. In the end, Darcy got it done.

On the team’s performance on the penalty kill tonight, going 3-for-3
They had a couple looks in the last one, but I thought we were really good, we have been, though for a long time, put a lot of pressure. Kopi won two big faceoffs, I’m not sure if Phil won that last one or not, he might have but I don’t know if we got it out, but Kopi two big faceoff wins early. It was good and we’re happy with that, for sure.

Notes –
• Forward Adrian Kempe (1-1=2) extended his team lead in goal-scoring by potting his 14th of the campaign.
• Per NHL PR, Kempe’s opening tally brought him to the 30-goal mark in 2024. He became the fourth Swedish player this calendar
year to reach the mark, behind William Nylander (40), Filip Forsberg (39) and Lucas Raymond (31).Kempe has now scored 30 goals in a calendar year for the third straight time (39 in 2023 & 36 in 2022) and became the first Kings player to accomplish the feat since Luc Robitaille (7 from 1987-93).
• Kempe later collected an assist has now registered at least a point in each of his last four games (3-2=5) against the Islanders. The Swedish winger now has 12 multi-point performances on the campaign, the most by any Kings skater and tied for the sixth most by any player in the NHL.
• Forward Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) fired home his 10th tally of the season, becoming the third Kings skater after Kempe (14) and Alex Laferriere (12) to hit double-digits in the goal column.
• Defenseman Mikey Anderson (1-0=1) capped off the Kings’ victory with an empty-net tally, his second point (1-1=2) in as many games. The goal is Anderson’s fourth of the season and marked the Kings’ 13th empty-net goal of the campaign, the most by any team in the League.
• Defenseman Joel Edmundson (0-1=1) and forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) each recorded helpers on Fiala’s second period goal. Turcotte picked up his first point against the Islanders in his second appearance against the franchise and now has points (1-1=2) in consecutive road games, dating back to Nov. 29 at Anaheim.
• Captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) picked up his 24th assist of the season, extending both his point and assist streaks to a fourth game (1-4=5), dating back to Nov. 30 against the Senators.
• Forward Trevor Moore (0-1=1) collected an assist on Kempe’s tally and now has seven points (3-4=7) in his six contests against the New York Islanders as a member of the Kings, dating back to Jan. 27, 2022.
• Goaltender Darcy Kuemper turned aside 19 of the Islanders’ 20 shots on goal to secure his second consecutive victory and improve his record to 6-2-3 on the season.
• Per NHL PR, the Kings own the NHL’s longest active winning streak (6-0-0 since Nov. 27), the club’s fifirst six-game run since 2021- 22 (7-0-0; Oct. 30 – Nov. 11, 2021).

The Kings are scheduled to return to the ice for practice tomorrow afternoon at 1:45 PM Eastern at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.