WHO: Los Angeles Kings (26-23-15) @ New York Islanders (37-23-5)
WHAT: 2025-26 Regular-Season Game 64/82
WHEN: Friday, March 13 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a 3-in-4 in the New York area, as they visit the New York Islanders this evening to conclude the season series between the two clubs.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forwards Adrian Kempe and Artemi Panarin led the way against the Islanders up front with a goal and an assist each when these teams met in Los Angeles earlier this month. The Kings also got multi-point games from defensemen Mikey Anderson (1-1-2) and Brandt Clarke (0-2-2) in the victory.

KINGS VITALS: After a full practice day yesterday on Long Island, the Kings opted not to hold a morning skate in advance of tonight’s game.

With another set of back-to-back games here, unclear on who tonight’s starting goaltender will be for the Kings, though the expectation is that both will start one of the two games. Anton Forsberg started the front half of the most recent back-to-back and earned the victory over Columbus. Should Darcy Kuemper get the nod, he brings with him a lifetime mark of 9-6-2 against the Islanders, with a .911 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against average.

For reference, here is how the Kings lined up on Tuesday in Boston, with no changes expected for tonight’s game –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Panarin – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Laferriere
Turcotte – Laughton – Wright
Malott – Helenius – Ward

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 10, 2026

From what we saw yesterday, wouldn’t expect to see any changes for the Kings this evening against the Islanders. Should any be required, forward Mathieu Joseph and defenseman Jacob Moverare are healthy and could check in for the Kings tonight.

ISLANDERS VITALS: The Islanders have won seven of their last nine games, including two consecutive victories, with only defeats against the Kings and Ducks in that span.

Per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, here’s how the Islanders lined up during yesterday’s practice –

#Isles practice lines are brought to you by Bull Smith’s Tavern:

Heineman-Horvat-Ritchie
Palat-Schenn-Barzal
Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom
Shabanov-Cizikas-Gatcomb
E: Duclair, MacLean

Schaefer-Pulock
Pelech-DeAngelo
Soucy-Mayfield
E: Boqvist

Sorokin
Rittich

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) March 12, 2026

Forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau led the Islanders with two points (0-2-2) when these teams met earlier this season in Los Angeles. Forward Anders Lee has four goals in his last five games played against the Kings. Former Kings goaltender David Rittich was the backup in net when these teams squared off last month and is likely to be in the same role tonight in New York.

Storyline Of The Day – Great Scott!
Trade deadline acquisitions can go a number of ways.

Players sometimes fit in seamlessly. Sometimes, the adjustment of coming to a new team, with a new system and a new city can create some challenges with regards to settling in.

For new Kings forward Scott Laughton, consider his arrival in the former category. How well has it gone?

Ask forward Trevor Moore, who described Laughton as a player who “just does everything right.”

Not a bad introduction.

Laughton has made an extremely impactful start to his Los Angeles Kings career. He scored in his debut against Montreal on Saturday and followed that up with the game’s first goal in a 5-4 win over Columbus on Monday, a part of a multi-point performance (1-1-2).

The underlying numbers have been good too. The Kings are controlling more than 57 percent of shot attempts through three games with Laughton on the ice. Scoring chances are right around 55 percent and high-danger chances are up at a staggering 77 percent. Perhaps most importantly, the goals for column reads three and the goals against column reads one. When the underlying metrics lead to surface level metrics, you know you’ve got something.

While he saw his point streak come to an end in Boston, Laughton was once again an impactful part of the game, as the Kings went 4-of-4 on the penalty kill, with Laughton factoring in on that unit. In talking with Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith, the addition of Laughton is a big add in that area. Number one, he’s a tremendous penalty killer, has been throughout his career. Secondly, it’s what he frees up, which allows other players to get more shifts 5-on-5. It’s freed up Quinton Byfield a bit, as well as Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. All good things.

“Scott Laughton helps that up front, it allows other guys to play more minutes, maybe 5-on-5,” Smith said.

For Laughton, his teammates have been quite impressed with his early returns, in all situations.

His regular linemate, Jared Wright, called him a very easy player to play with at even strength. Laughton spoke recently about a similar mentality and mindset between the two of them and Alex Turcotte, with a very simple, yet aggressive approach to the game. Wright furthered that thought today, talking about the energy he gets from playing on that line.

Laughton’s impact has gone beyond his linemates, too. Team veterans have understood what he’s brought to the group in a short time.

“He’s a great faceoff man and a great two-way player, a great guy in the room,” defenseman Drew Doughty said of Laughton. “I can’t say enough good things about him, I’m really happy to have him here.”

As the Kings continue to push for a playoff berth, players like Laughton will be key. The big guns seem to be going right now, which is great, but depth scoring will continue to be important for this group. Laughton is one guy who can help in that area.

3 To Watch For –
– Not positive if Darcy Kuemper will get the start tonight between the pipes or not.

If he does, he’s certainly feeling more like himself after a difficult return from the Winter Olympics in Milan.

“I was pretty jet lagged, I’m sure like a lot of guys were, so we had to get right back into it and then I got really sick,” Kuemper said. “That was not very fun, but I’m feeling really good now, so that’s good.”

It was a difficult adjustment back for Kuemper. His first game coming out of the break was the 8-1 loss to Edmonton, where he just did not look like himself. Certainly reasons behind that. But he wasn’t where he needed to be.

In Boston, Kuemper looked to be pretty dialed in.

It was a game in which chances were at a premium between two teams that played so hard at both ends of the ice. But there were high-danger looks for both sides and Kuemper did his part to deny all but one of those looks. In total, he stopped 1.03 goals above expected in Boston and the overtime goal, a 2-on-0 breakaway against him, was a big reason that number wasn’t higher. Kuemper looked composed and confident against the Bruins and that was a big showing for him.

Unclear if he will play tonight against the Islanders or not. He and Anton Forsberg will definitely split the starts over the weekend, before the trip finale against the Rangers on Monday. Kuemper’s done a nice job to get himself back and the Kings will need more big games from him down the stretch to get to where they want to get to.

– Kuemper was a part of a Kings penalty kill that looked outstanding on Tuesday.

The Kings made a few changes over the break to the way they killed penalties. Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith spoke about pressuring less in certain scenarios, but pressuring with more of a purpose in others. The Kings ran one of the NHL’s most aggressive PK’s over the last couple years, but results from last season didn’t translate to what we’ve seen this year. Been a common theme. With a couple of changes made, the output has been better, culminating with one of the best performances of the season against the Bruins.

“We’re still working on it,” Kuemper said. “It’s been, overall, really good, and we address some moments each game that still aren’t quite on par, but it’s a work in progress. I really like the direction it’s headed and last game, it came up huge for us.”

Forward Trevor Moore used the word “confident” to describe the showing in Boston. Acknowledged that the results haven’t been there, but credited Kuemper and the goaltending for doing their part, on top of improvements from the skaters. Defenseman Drew Doughty spoke about wanting to see the penalty kill not just keep the Kings in games, but help win them.

In Boston, it did not get the win, but it certainly set the Kings up to win the game.

It’s an area that could certainly afford to peak at the right time of the season. Special teams can decide games and down the stretch, every game will be extremely important for the Kings. Good signs, if they can keep Tuesday’s performance up going forward.

– Lastly, the Kings have the opportunity to do something they have not done in a long time.

With a victory tonight over the Islanders, the Kings would move into sole possession of a playoff spot, for the first time since February 1.

Almost hesitant to even bring that up. I think there’s just so much time left in the season and being in a spot after today doesn’t really change what the Kings need to do. They don’t control the tiebreakers and they don’t have games in hand. So this team still needs to win a bunch of games down the stretch to get in and they certainly need to win a bunch of games to avoid the WC2 spot, either sneaking back into the Pacific Division field or catching Utah. There is much work to be done. But it’s something, isn’t it? If the Kings get two points tonight they’d be back in the field. A testament to improvements made over the last couple of weeks, and, frankly, a number of favorable results in other games. But in the field nonetheless.

Kings and Islanders, to conclude the season series between the two sides this evening on Long Island. Big 3-in-4 this weekend to finish off the trip!