Panarin scores 1st goal for Kings in win against Islanders
Panarin, who also had an assist, has five points (one goal, four assists) in five games since being acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4. Smith was coaching in his second game since he took over on an interim basis after Jim Hiller was fired on Sunday.
Anze Kopitar had an assist in his 1,500th NHL game, and Adrian Kempe and Mikey Anderson each had a goal and an assist for the Kings (25-22-14), who won for the second time in eight games (2-5-1). Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves, and Brandt Clarke had two assists.
Adam Pelech had a short-handed goal, Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves for the Islanders (35-23-5), who were playing the second game of a back-to-back after losing 5-1 at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
Panarin gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the first period. Kopitar won a battle along the right boards with Matthew Schaefer and sent a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Panarin, who took his time before beating Sorokin blocker side from the bottom of the left circle.
Kopitar is the 25th player in League history to play in 1,500 games, the ninth to appear in that many games for one franchise, and the fifth born outside of North America to reach the milestone.
He also has 1,303 career points (446 goals, 857 assists), four away from tying Marcel Dionne for the Kings’ franchise record.
Samuel Helenius made it 2-0 at 14:20 of the second period, checking Carson Soucy along the boards below the goal line to help force a turnover before scoring his fourth goal of the season on a wrist shot from the left circle.
The Kings extended their lead to 3-0 at 15:51 when Anderson scored through traffic with a slap shot from above the left circle.
Horvat cut it to 3-1 in the final second of the period. With 1.0 second left on the clock, Jean-Gabriel Pageau won a face-off in the left circle back to Horvat, who qiickly scored off the far post past Kuemper’s glove with 0.2 seconds remaining.
Alex Laferriere pushed the lead to 4-1 while on a power play at 2:30 of the third period. He skated the length of the ice through three Islanders defenders before scoring with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Pelech cut it to 4-2 with his short-handed goal at 4:30, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Pageau with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Kempe tapped in Clarke’s backdoor pass at the left post to make it 5-2 at 8:30.
Heineman got the Islanders to within 5-3 with 1:59 remaining, tipping in Schaefer’s long shot with Sorokin pulled for an extra attacker.
