Kings can’t keep up with Islanders in Kevin Fiala’s return
Brayden Schenn had a goal and two assists, Victor Eklund scored for the fourth straight game, and the New York Islanders ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Kings on Thursday night.
Matthew Schaefer scored in his 100th NHL game, Simon Holmstrom had a goal and an assist, Bo Horvat scored a late empty-netter, and the Islanders picked up at least a point for the third straight game. Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves.
Trevor Moore and Quinton Byfield scored, and Kevin Fiala had an assist in his season debut as the Kings lost their third straight game. Playing in his 500th career game, Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves.
Schaefer and Eklund, two of the Islanders’ young cornerstones, came up with key contributions while each picking up a point for the fourth straight game.
Schaefer had a power-play goal to put New York up 2-1 midway through the first period, his 29th career goal and 77th point. Schaefer moved up to fourth in career points by a teenage defenseman, behind Hall of Famers Phil Housley (132) and Ray Bourque (79) and Buffalo Sabres star Rasmus Dahlin (84).
Eklund made it 3-1 early in the second period, becoming the third New York rookie to score in four straight games in the past 20 years and 11th overall.
Fiala played for the first time since breaking his left leg at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, but the offensive-minded winger’s presence was not enough to get the Kings back on track. Fiala did have the secondary assist on Byfield’s power-play goal, which marked the 300th helper of his career.
Up next for Kings: vs. Calgary at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.