The Beat Goes On for Kings

After getting outshot in the first period, 20-3, and eventually losing to the New York Islanders, 4-3, Tuesday night, the Kings sounded like a team finally out of excuses.

“For a lack of a better way to put it, our preparation obviously stinks,” King forward Ray Ferraro said. “We come out to play in the first period and I don’t know what in God’s name we could be thinking about but it’s not the game.”

The Kings turned an early 1-0 lead into their fourth loss in six games before 9,824 at Nassau Coliseum. They were outshot, 43-21, and did not score in four power plays, stretching their streak to zero for 29 over their last 18 periods. Goalie Stephane Fiset played well with 39 saves, but still dropped to 5-11-3 for the season.

“Guys are frustrated and probably should be,” Ferraro said. “You can’t expect your goaltender to make 40 saves every night. You can’t expect certain guys to carry the load in the locker room and on the ice. You can’t expect certain guys to do all the fighting.

“We, as a team, have to find a way to play better as a team and until that happens we’re not going to win. The last [13 games--in which the Kings are 3-9-1] we have not been a very good hockey team. And there is no excuse for us being that way compared to the way we’ve [played earlier].”

Forward Dimitri Khristich did his best to get the Kings started right when he set up the game’s first goal with a strong individual effort.

With New York in the final seconds of a power play, Khristich skated with the puck from the Kings’ zone down the left side of the ice and fought off the Islanders’ Scott Lachance behind the New York net and passed to Kai Nurminen, who gave the Kings a 1-0 lead 2:32 into the game.

For the rest of the period, however, the Kings played as if they had a three-goal lead instead of a one-goal lead. On rush after rush, the Islanders attacked the Kings’ zone and had several good scoring chances but were stopped by Fiset.

The Kings’ kept their one-goal lead until late in the first period when New York’s Marty McInnis dug out the puck from behind the Kings’ net and got it to Derek King, who passed to Lachance for his first goal of the season with 1:32 left in the period.

The Kings did not start the second period any better as their hesitation to make a play caught up with them again 4:03 into it.

On the play, the Islanders’ Bryan McCabe whacked two shots at Fiset, who stopped both only to have the puck bounce off the arm of teammate Rob Blake into the Kings’ net to give New York a 2-1 lead.

But the Kings did not take long to answer when winger Vladimir Tsyplakov stole the puck from behind New York’s net and then had his shot blocked by goalie Eric Fichaud only to have Ferraro there for the rebound and his 12th goal of the season.

With the score tied, 2-2, late in the second period, the Islanders took the lead. With Kevin Stevens in the penalty box serving a two-minute interference penalty, McInnis scored a power-play goal from the left circle at the 17:13 mark of the period.

The Kings played better in the third period but managed only eight shots on goal. Twice they came close to tying the game midway in the period but a rebound by Brad Smyth was blocked by Islander defenseman Bryan McCabe and Ian Laperriere’s shot from the left circle hit the crossbar.

“If I had got my shot up a couple of inches, no doubt that it would have been in the net,” Smyth said.

The Islanders then scored an insurance goal when McCabe beat Fiset on a breakaway with 2:49 left in regulation. The Kings followed with Philippe Boucher’s third goal of the season a minute later.