In Elmont, the Los Angeles Kings scored three times in the middle frame to take a 3-0 lead on the Islanders on Friday night.
The Kings then had to hold off the Isles for a 3-2 win.
Jonathan Quick made 16 saves in the LA win.
“We held on all night,” Quick said. “We knew how they play.”
The Kings improved to 33-19-8.
Phillip Danault was credited with the game’s first goal, and LA’s 1-0 lead in the second period when his attempt was batted into the Isles net by New York defender.
“Sometimes you go to the front of the net and get rewarded,” Danault said. “I’ve been going there the last couple games. Tonight, [I was] going back at it in front of the net and got rewarded.”
The Islanders dropped to Islanders 30-25-7.
The Islanders’ Noah Dobson stopped the Kings run in the second period to cut the deficit to 3-1 headed to the third period.
“We allowed the momentum swing to be too big,” New York forward Matt Martin said. “We’ve got to respond right after that a little better, obviously.
“It was 3-0 … we got a goal on the power play late in the second, and then ‘Pelly’ banged one home and we gave ourselves a chance. It just wasn’t enough.”
Adam Pelech scored in the third period for New York to trim the LA advantage to 3-2.
“We made a couple of mistakes, and they made us pay for it,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “I’ll give them credit, they played well. They were structurally good and made it very difficult for us on the forecheck.”
Arthur Kaliyev and Gabriel Vilardi for the Kings to push the lead to 3-0.
“That team doesn’t go away,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “They get better in the second half. That third goal was a momentum swing.”
Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves in the Islanders loss.
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