On Thursday, the New York Islanders will be searching for a win while the Kings might be searching for a pulse.
The Isles are 0-2-2 in their past four games and have won just twice in their last eight tries. Meanwhile, the Kings are drooping near the bottom of the Pacific Division and Western Conference, all while showing few signs of life in consecutive home losses to struggling Pittsburgh and surging Nashville.
“The last two games, I feel like, against Pittsburgh we didn’t play our best,” Kings forward Adrian Kempe said. “(Against Nashville) I just didn’t think we had it at all.”
He added: “Early in the season, maybe the results weren’t going our way. This game and the last game, we took a step back.”
The Predators shut the Kings (5-9-2, 12 points) out for the first time in 109 outings, but in their past 110 games, they’ve scored one goal or fewer 31 times, going 2-24-5 in those matches.
That offensive futility was on full display Tuesday, when they gave Nashville netminder Juuse Saros little in the way of menace for 40 minutes and failed to score even after opening up their game in the final frame.
They got Alex Turcotte back against Pittsburgh only to sit him against Nashville after Mats Zuccarello played for the first time since aggravating his shoulder injury Oct. 24. Neither moved the needle, playing limited minutes, producing a shot apiece and skating in the red.
Kevin Fiala, who hasn’t played since breaking his leg at the Olympics last season, has also been nearing a return.
Quinton Byfield has been in the lineup for all except two games, but he’s been largely invisible, a feat for a man 6-foot-5-inches tall and 230 pounds. He’s rarely transported the puck or taken on opponents offensively, and on the defensive end he has a paltry two hits all season.
Kings coach Peter Laviolette deflected a question about wanting more imposing play from Byfield – an understandable response considering Byfield’s lack of assertiveness is far from the Kings’ only issue – but there exists no doubt that Byfield has underdelivered.
His scoring numbers are not aiding his cause either, as he’s on pace for a 35-point campaign, 20 points under his career-best total from three seasons ago.
Perhaps the most bankable improvement the Kings could experience personnel-wise had once been the most unlikely.
Painfully labored breakouts, an 0-for-2 night on the power play and heavily constricted flow up the ice reigned for the Kings on Tuesday sans Erik Gustafsson (undisclosed injury).
Gustafsson is a journeyman in his mid 30s who played just two NHL games last season, yet he has blown past several higher-salaried and ostensibly more firmly established Kings rearguards.
He went from depth defender to first-pairing and top power-play unit regular. That is roughly as much a validation of his effort as it is an indictment of the poor quality of the defense corps around him outside of Brandt Clarke and, on his better nights, captain Drew Doughty.
Doughty, who blocked a Steven Stamkos blast in Tuesday’s third period with his ankle, and Gustafsson did not practice Wednesday, per Alexander Legget of Mayor’s Manor.
While the Kings seek skill, mobility and consistency on defense, the Islanders (7-6-4, 18 points) have it all in 19-year-old Matthew Schaefer.
The reigning Calder Trophy winner established himself as a franchise player almost immediately after being selected first overall in the 2025 draft.
Not only does Schaefer anchor coach Peter DeBoer’s defense and create offense for others, he’s also a finisher. After scoring 23 goals last year, he’s on pace for 25 this year. A combined total of 48 goals would push him past Kings assistant coach Phil Housley for the most goals ever by a teenage defenseman, a record Housley has held for nearly 45 years.
New York Islanders (7-6-4, 18 points) at Kings (5-9-2, 12 points)
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: ESPN+, Hulu, Disney+