1. Richardson's goal, his 11th of the season, came 13:35 into the opening period. Wayne Simmonds earned the game's only assist.
2. Jonathan Quick made 26 saves to record his 38th victory (extending his Kings club record) and 4th shutout of the season . Dwayne Roloson stopped 25 of 26 for the Isles.
3. Each team failed on four power plays, with each team having five shots with the extra man. The Kings have now gone seven games without allowing a power play goal, and have killed 23 straight. The Isles have not scored a power play goal in their last six games against Los Angeles, covering 22 opportunities.
...a few more...
4. The Isles were shutout 1-0 for the first time this season. They were blanked 1-0 three times last season, most recently on Feburary 25, 2009 by Pittsburgh.
5. It's the second time that the Kings have blanked the Isles 1-0. The previous time was the opener of the 1996-97 season. Stephane Fiset shutout the Isles that night; Ed Olczyk (whose son Nicholas was born earlier in the day) had the game's only goal.
6. Of the 12 forwards the Isles dressed, seven have played their enitre NHL career for the Islanders (Bailey, Bergenheim, Comeau,Hunter, Nielsen, Okposo, and Tavares). Four of the other five also played for the Kings (Jackman, Moluson., Sim and Tambellini). The 12th Isles forward was Richard Park, who grew up in Southern California, and played for the Junior Kings.
7. Quick improves to 3-0-0 against the Isles; he's allowed only four goals in the three games.
8. The Kings improve to 27-0-0 in games that they lead after two periods. (The Islanders, by contrast, are 24-3-4.)
9. The shutout ended three Islander streaks: they had earned points in five straight games (3-0-2), they had scored at least one power play goal in each of those five games (six power play goals total), and they had scored at least four goals in four straight games. The Isles were within a minute of going 2-0-0 to start this road trip on Friday night, instead they finish the West Coast swing 1-1-1.
10. The Kings sweep the season series, winning a pair of 1-goal games. Los Angeles has won five straight from the Isles, and the Isles are 0-4-2 against the Kings since defeating Los Angeles 3-2 on February 16, 2003. The Kings have held the Isles to three goals or less in 12 straight games, dating back to a 5-4 Islander overtime win in December 1998 (Bryan Berard had the winner in that game).
Up next: The road trip concludes at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. It's the first meeting of the teams since Kyle Okposo's overtime goal gave the Isles a 3-2 win on Boxing Day. The teams will also meet on March 30 at the Coliseum; the Isles lead the season series three games to one (and six points to three). It's the first of four consecutive games for the Isles against teams not currently in a playoff position.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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