WHO: Los Angeles Kings (1-4-2) @ New York Islanders (5-3-1)
WHAT: 2026-27 NHL Regular Season, Game 8/84
WHEN: Thursday, October 22 @ 4:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN+ / Hulu – AUDIO: 830 AM KLAA, ESPN LA App, LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are on Long Island to begin a set of three straight games against teams from the Metropolitan Division, starting tonight against the New York Islanders.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Kings forward Adrian Kempe has scored six goals in his last ten games played versus the Islanders, while forward Trevor Moore is a point-per-game player with nine points (4-5-9) in his last nine played against New York. Forward Artemi Panarin has 50 career points (19-31-50) versus the Islanders, his most against any one NHL opponent.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today, as they did in Tuesday’s win over the Capitals.

Looks like goaltender Darcy Kuemper will continue between the pipes tonight, following a strong performance in Tuesday’s victory. Kuemper, who was the first goaltender off this morning, has a lifetime record of 10-6-2 against New York, with a .913 save percentage and a 2.54 goals-against average, including a pair of victories in the matchup last season.

Based on morning skate today here is what we saw from the group in terms of line rushes –

Panarin – Laferriere – Kempe
Lee – Haula – Zuccarello
Moore – Laughton – Armia
Wright – Helenius – Perry
Ward

Gustafsson – Clarke
Edmundson – Doughty
Anderson – Dumoulin
Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

Forward Quinton Byfield is a game-time decision tonight with an upper-body injury. Byfield did not skate today, but could play tonight depending on how he’s feeling. He’s in a day-to-day boat, per Peter Laviolette. Should Byfield not play, I’d expect the above configuration, with 12 forwards and six defensemen. If Byfield can play, I think he slots in with Zuccarello and Lee and then everything shuffles down accordingly.

ISLANDERS VITALS: New York is off to a strong start to the season, bringing a record of 5-3-1 into tonight’s meeting with the Kings.

Per Stefen Rosner of NHL.com, here’s how the hosts lined up last time out, in a 3-2 win over Anaheim on Tuesday evening –

#Isles warmup lines vs. #FlyTogether @Bullsmithsli: Holmstrom-Horvat-Palmieri Heineman-Schenn-Eklund Palat-Pageau-Duclair MacLean-Cizikas-Chaffee Stanley-Schaefer Pelech-Pulock Kessel-DeAngelo Sorokin Varlamov

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) October 20, 2026

Islanders forward Bo Horvat leads the team in goals (5) and points (10) so far this season. Horvat also led all New York skaters with two goals and three points against the Kings during the 2025-26 campaign. Defenseman Matthew Schaefer has a team-high eight assists, tied for the sixth-most in the NHL among all blueliners.

Storyline Of The Day – All Gus, No Brakes
Last time out, the secondary scoring came from defenseman Erik Gustafsson.

ALL GUS, NO BRAKES https://t.co/SQvsdkxuaV

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 21, 2026

A third-period power play was, frankly, not going all that well. In a 2-2 game, the Kings had a chance to pull ahead and the top unit didn’t get much of anything done. On came the second unit. Gustafsson pulled what Peter Laviolette termed an “old-school” play. He called his own number and weaved his way into a breakaway with what looked to be relative ease. The finish wasn’t perfectly clean, but despite Washington netminder Logan Thompson getting a piece, the puck found its way across the line, giving the Kings an ever-so-important go-ahead goal.

How did he see it?

“I kind of blacked out.”

I get that.

What Gustafsson added, though, was that a pre-scout read of the Washington kill said that they would likely place the first player behind him, meaning preventing the drop pass in the neutral zone, so he read that and kept skating. Normally, the play available would likely be a dump and recover, but in that moment, he saw the gap and went for it.

Certainly paid off.

“I think when I took up past the blue line, the forward kind of came behind me and then I saw the their three guys in front of me, kind of flat-footed,” he detailed. “I was going to dump it in, but then I saw it a little open and then try for it, and obviously it worked. So, it was good.”

First things first, that’s a credit to the coaching staff who identified that element of the Washington penalty kill. There’s also the decision to keep Gustafsson in the lineup, exactly for moments like this, even when playing 12/6. We might not have always seen that kind of a move but it paid off against the Capitals.

Then it’s a credit to Gustafsson for delivering. It’s one thing to know what to expect. It’s another to make the read and in the moment, realize the scoring opportunity. For the Kings, perhaps the biggest “another” was actually scoring.

It was the first goal of the season for the second power-play unit. It was the only goal against a goaltender that didn’t come from the forward line of Panarin, Laferriere and Kempe. That’s big. Gustafsson has those kinds of traits in his game. He’s a skater and a puck mover, both with his legs and via the pass. As far as defensemen who have never really had that solidified, top-of-the-lineup role go, Gustafsson has been a point producer as well. You could certainly see why on that sequence.

Panarin joked that he hopes Gustafsson’s goal doesn’t demote his power-play unit to second. Long-time teammates, in Chicago and New York before Los Angeles and Panarin loves what Gustafsson adds to this group.

“It was an unbelievable goal, a really important goal, especially how he scored it, that was special,” Panarin said of Gustafsson. “We all know how skilled he is. I think everyone in the NHL knows. Great defenseman……almost a forward.”

A huge goal for the Kings when they needed one most. Good on Gustafsson for getting it done.

3 To Watch For –
– It’s that kind of secondary scoring that the Kings will need. Against every opponent, really, but against New York, I think it goes double.

What stands out about the early-season numbers for the Islanders are mostly defensive. New York ranks second-best in the NHL in goals against per/60 (2.11) and fifth-best in the league on the penalty kill (87.5 percent). The Kings got what they needed from the top line against Washington, but they’ll need to find a bit more elsewhere too. Wrote about that yesterday and think it

“We need that in general, we need production throughout the lineup and it was nice to see that line produce, but there’s room, I think, for more to gain more opportunity out there offensively,” Laviolette said. “It’s something that we’ve been talking about. It was nice to see that happen last game, but it’s not the same people every night that produce. You’ve got to get it from the back end, you’ve got to get it chipped in from all different lines and the power play can help as well. There’s different things that you can do.”

The top line drove the bus last time out and it still feels like a lot of it relies on those players getting on the board for multiple goals. Can’t just be there though and against a stingy group, among the league’s best defensive clubs, I think that depth scoring will be that much more important. It was Gustafsson on Tuesday and it’ll need to be someone else – or multiple someone elses – getting the job done today.

– Good to see Andre Lee upping his level.

When Byfield went down, Lee was the recipient of some additional icetime. Second straight game he’s seen an increased role with 11 forwards, as he did against Boston on Saturday, when the Kings went with 11 by choice.

“He’s been really good, even the game before we moved him up the lineup a little bit,” Laviolette said of Lee. “He’s big, he’s strong, he takes it to the net every game. He seems to generate a couple of really good chances. He’s physical and he’s pretty responsible too. He’s been a good addition. With guys out of the lineup, opportunity comes to other people and I think he’s done a really good job with it.”

Lee sees similar opportunities.

This isn’t his first time around the block now and he certainly feels more comfortable than he has in years past when he’s been up.

“The last two years, I’ve had some games up here, so I do feel a little bit more comfortable and I have a little bit more confidence,” Lee said. “I think I’m playing my game, being physical, strong on pucks, getting some chances too. I’ve got to keep doing that and I feel like the coaching staff trusts me more and more. Just got to keep doing those things.”

With players out, someone needs to step in and fill those minutes. Obviously dependent in some ways on Byfield’s status, but looks like Lee might begin things on the second line tonight. Kings need players to step up and he’s one who might get a little bit more opportunity to do so.

– Lastly, speaking of Byfield, he was not on the ice for morning skate today, which Peter Laviolette spoke to afterwords today, but he isn’t ruled out from playing tonight.

“He wasn’t out there this morning and he’ll be a game-time decision,” Laviolette said.

Byfield is “day-to-day” as Laviolette said yesterday. If Byfield plays, I think we’ll see him back with Mats Zuccarello. It was interesting to see the lines shuffled up a bit this morning, but it’s hard to know how much of that is dependent on Byfield’s availability. Erik Haula is the natural option to move up onto a second line, but he could also be there anyways, in theory, with those two players on his line.

We’ll wait until warmups to see if Byfield is on the ice or not. Byfield was at the rink this morning, which is a positive sign, and there do not seem to be any long-term concerns here. See what warmups entail and go from there.

Kings and Islanders, Game 2 of 5 on the current trip. Little bit of momentum in the right direction and the Kings will hope to build on what was positive from the win over the Capitals. See if they can keep that train moving.