Islanders fail to get closer in playoff race after getting drubbed by Kings

LOS ANGELES — There is bad luck and there is poor play.

And then there is the melding of both.

That is the only way to describe the Islanders’ play on Tuesday night in a disastrous 4-1 loss to the Kings at Crypto.com Arena with two goaltender interference calls going against them, eight scoreless power plays, two shorthanded goals against and a long flight back East to ponder a mess of a week.

Not once but twice on this trip did the Islanders fumble a chance to get within three points of a playoff spot.

While their competition in the East’s wild-card race is not exactly covering itself in glory, the Islanders need to make up ground and failed this week at a golden opportunity to do just that.

It is a much tougher task getting into the playoffs this time than at similar junctures the past two seasons, but even the effort the Islanders put forth in Los Angeles — while far better than two nights prior in Anaheim — wasn’t what you would call inspiring.

The Islanders succeeded in turning this into a defensive game, but it was the Kings who took the majority of the limited chances available and capitalized on Isles errors.

What made just as big a difference than anything on the ice, though, was the Kings’ video staff, which successfully challenged not one, but two apparent Islanders goals in the second period for goaltender interference.

The first one looked open-and-shut, with Simon Holmstrom clearly moving Darcy Kuemper out of the crease to create an opportunity for Kyle Palmieri to jam the puck in.

The second, on Anders Lee, was closer to a 50/50 call, with Lee’s skate in the crease and touching Kuemper, but not seeming to affect him on the same player’s backhand goal.

So instead of going into the second intermission tied at three, the Islanders faced a two-goal deficit — and were outscored on their own power play after Tony DeAngelo’s stick exploded receiving a pass, giving Quintin Byfield a shorthanded breakaway which he easily buried.

Bad breaks do not erase what was a less-than-inspiring 60 minutes.

But it must be said that this game had as many bad breaks as the Islanders have suffered all season, and per team statistician Eric Hornick, the first time the Isles have had two goals called back in a game because of challenges.

Adding injury to insult, the Islanders also lost Adam Boqvist in the second period, with the defenseman not returning to the game after taking a hard shoulder check from Kevin Fiala.

Making matters even worse on the power play, the Islanders failed to convert a minute-long five-on-three in the third period, bringing their account to a staggering 0-for-7 with a shorthanded goal allowed on the power play for the evening, with an eighth still to come.

On that eighth, with the Islanders’ net empty, the Kings scored their second shorthanded goal of the night, with Drew Doughty scoring.

Even with a caveat for the overturned goals, there’s no excusing away a night where the Islanders spent over a fourth of the game on the power play and failed to score on the man advantage.

Vladislav Gavrikov opened the scoring at 15:33 of the first, ripping in a one-timer a full 40 seconds after a delayed penalty call on DeAngelo for slashing.

After Lee tied it at 8:37 of the second, it took Phillip Danault just 37 seconds to give the Kings the lead right back, snapping in Trevor Moore’s drop pass in the left circle.

Then came the comedy of overturned and shorthanded goals on the power play, which hurt double on a night where the Islanders struggled to sustain any five-on-five pressure in the offensive zone.

The Islanders can thank the teams surrounding them in the standings for not taking the opportunity to put them away for good in the playoff race this week. But that is not goodwill they can continue depending on.

This, right now, has all the feel of a season slipping away in slow motion. It’s on the Islanders to reverse it.