Kings take out Islanders, 3-1

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The East Coast never looked so good to the Kings.

Buried at the bottom of the NHL standings, the team Wayne Gretzky put on the map two decades ago is trying to find its way. An overtime loss and a win at the start of an eight-game trip has suddenly made the time away from home seem not so bad.

Rob Blake scored a rare power-play goal in the third period and Jason LaBarbera made 28 saves to lift the suddenly surging Kings to a 3-1 victory over the slumping New York Islanders on Thursday night.

On the heels of an overtime loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday, the Kings are enjoying a seldom-seen upswing.

“Three points for us is a lot,” Blake said of the Kings (21-29-3). “We understood the challenge at hand here coming on this type of a trip after the break. We had a good effort in Philly, and tonight we got the job done.”

Blake shook off defenseman Radek Martinek in front and managed to get his stick on Dustin Brown’s shot, squeezing it between the pads of backup goalie Wade Dubielewicz 7:22 into the third.

Matt Moulson also scored and Alexander Frolov sealed it with an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left for the Kings, who still have an NHL-low 45 points. They are 6-2-1 in their last nine and are off to a good start on the 15-day trip that will take them through the entire Atlantic Division and to Detroit, Columbus and St. Louis.

The Kings are 12 points out of a playoff spot. “You can’t really look at the big picture,” LaBarbera said. “It’s probably good for us to get out here and see something different and get away from the stuff we’ve seen a lot of this year.”

Bryan Berard scored for the Islanders, who lost their sixth straight at home (0-4-2).