ELMONT, N.Y. — The Islanders looked very much like a team missing some key forwards, allowing Kings goalie Jonathan Quick to vaguely resemble his prime despite his struggles this season.
It turned into a costly 3-2 loss on Friday night at UBS Arena as the Islanders had their modest two-game winning streak snapped and their precarious playoff position made even more precarious.
The Islanders (30-25-7), who open a two-game road trip in Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon, still hold the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. But the Sabres, who moved into the second wild-card spot just three points back, have played five fewer games. The Red Wings are also three points behind the Islanders with five games in hand.
The Islanders are playing without injured forwards Mathew Barzal, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Josh Bailey, not to mention the long-term absences of Oliver Wahlstrom and Cal Clutterbuck.
The Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin stopped 25 shots.
Quick needed to make just 16 saves for the Kings (33-19-8), who were coming off Thursday night’s 4-3 overtime road loss to the Devils as they allowed Nico Hischier’s equalizer in the final minute of regulation.
They took a 2-0 lead against the Devils. The Kings built a 3-0 lead in the second period against the Islanders.
But the Islanders made Quick and the Kings sweat out the final moments.
Defenseman Adam Pelech, rushing the puck up ice, flung a backhander toward the crease that deflected in off Kings defenseman Matt Roy at 15:23 of the third period to bring the Islanders within 3-2.
Phillip Danault opened the scoring at 6:40 of the second as he battled Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov at the left post. The puck hit off Danault, off Sorokin and then off Danault again, though it also may have hit Romanov’s stick before popping over the goalie.
Fourth-liner Arthur Kaliyev converted Rasmus Kupari’s feed on a two-on-one to make it 2-0 at 8:05 after Islanders defenseman Sebastian Aho could not contain the puck at the opposing blue line.
Gabriel Vilardi, wide open in the slot, knuckled in a one-timer off Alex Iafallo’s feed to push the Kings’ lead to 3-0 at 12:14.
Defenseman Noah Dobson’s power-play blast from inside the blue line brought the Islanders within 3-1 at 16:34 of the second period. It was the Islanders’ first man-advantage goal in the four games since top-line playmaker Barzal suffered a suspected knee injury.
“It’s just getting comfortable,” Dobson said before the game. “Some guys are in different spots. Different plays. But, as a unit, we still have the concepts of what we want to do. We want to move the pucks quick, deliver them to the net. Especially in the break-ins, it’s definitely a little different. We just have to adjust a little bit and come in as a unit of five, rather than the one man (Barzal) and he would pick up his speed.”
Quick, who led the Kings to Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, entered Friday’s match with a bloated 3.49 goals-against average and awful .878 save percentage.
But he showed off some of his noted flexibility as he went into a split to deny Matt Martin at the crease off Bo Horvat’s feed at 6:52 of the first period. He also denied Horvat’s initial shot and Martin’s attempt off a long rebound at 3:20 of the second period before the Kings started scoring.
The Islanders generated just five shots and 12 chances against the Kings in the first period, when both teams played with a solid defensive structure protecting the crease and slot area.
The Kings kept theirs. The Islanders’ structure fell apart just long enough to cost them the game.
