Los Angeles gets a chance to halt its own skid against an Islanders team searching for a way out of four straight losses.
The Islanders visit Crypto.com Arena on Thursday with 18 points and a 7-6-4 record, six points ahead of the Kings, who sit at 5-9-2; New York ranks 20th in the power index, Los Angeles 25th. Both arrive on losing streaks, but the Islanders have dropped four straight while the Kings have lost two in a row. The scoring matchup features Artemi Panarin’s 17 points in 15 games for Los Angeles against Matthew Schaefer’s 17 points in 16 games for New York. Goaltending could decide it: the Islanders’ .906 team save percentage is ahead of the Kings’ .888, so Los Angeles needs its top scorers to make that gap matter less.