March 5, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Samuel Helenus (79) celebrates after New York Islanders defenseman Carson Souci (4) scores in the second period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Artemi Panarin scored his first goal for the Kings, helping Los Angeles to a 5-3 victory over the visiting New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Panarin, Adrian Kempe and Mikey Anderson each had a goal and an assist, Samuel Helenus and Alex Laferriere also scored, Brant Clark had two assists and Darcy Kemper made 31 saves for the Kings, who had lost six of their previous seven games (1-5-1).
Bo Horvat, Adam Pelec and Emil Heinemann scored, Jean-Gabriel Pago had two assists and Ilya Sorokin stopped 30 shots for the Islanders, who lost their fifth straight win in a 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
The Kings took a 1-0 lead after Sorokin lost his stick in the corner, and Panarin eventually left the puck alone in front of him and scored by crossing his pads at 3:17 of the first period.
Panarin appeared in his fifth game against the Kings since acquiring him from the New York Rangers on February 4.
The Kings outscored New York 13-3 at the midway point of the first period and 19-5 in the second.
Sorokin robbed Kempe of a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance at 9:41 of the second, but the Kings got past him less than five minutes later after winning the puck on a forecheck to get a point. Jeff Malott made a backhand horizontal pass to Helenius at 14:20 for a one-timer and a 2-0 lead.
Anderson sent a point shot through traffic and into the goal at 15:51 of the second, his first goal since Dec. 6, to make it 3-0.
The Islanders won the contest with one second left in the second half, and Horvat scored a one-time goal from the top of the left circle just before time expired to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Laferriere rushed into the New York zone during a power play and scored at 2:30 of the third period to extend the lead to 4-1.
The Kings went right back on the power play, but it was Pelech who shorthanded the Islanders to make it 4-2 at 4:30.
Kempe re-established a three-goal lead at 8:30 by redirecting the puck to the side of the net.
The Islanders pulled Sorokin with more than eight minutes left for an extra attacker, and Heinemann scored with 1:59 left to cut it to 5-3.
–Field level media
