Kings 2, Islanders 1: Honk if you hate day games

Well sure, I suppose you enjoyed today if your employer digs Columbus ("He United Worlds through Syphilis"), or if you're north of the border and doin' Thanksgiving ("Thanks for the Queen, and thanks for making the U.S. our neighbor instead of some far crazier country."). But for me it was just another Kids Day matinee where the weather feels kind of bland and I'm trying to sneak peeks at the Islanders game in between momentary lapses of work.

Game Summary | Event Summary | Islanders Recap

Of course, the Islanders took their first real loss of the season, so maybe you didn't enjoy it anyway. I only caught the final 25 minutes or so, enough to see all the goals (that's right, I brought the jinx) and enough to know I probably don't want to go watch my recording of the full game.

But here are video highlights, plus some facts, figures and impressions from people who saw it all:

The Islanders became the final team to concede a powerplay goal this season -- the 100% PK streak is over. But the Kings' powerplay goal was exactly what you're supposed to do with the extra man. Anze Kopitar took advantage of a scramble around the goal, drew Josh Bailey away with a pass out to the low point to Justin Williams, then took Williams' return pass and calmly sniped it past a very screened Martin Biron.

Drew Doughty gave them the insurance goal in the third with a blast past Biron. Great shot from a great player -- all the more impressive since he's carrying RudyKelly's baby.

Matt Moulson made it interesting with under two minutes left, scooping Kyle Okposo's rebound home, but that was that. The Kings kept pressing with the lead the way the Islanders should have in Boston. That's alright, I suppose: the Kings have spent some hard years learning those lessons, so hopefully they left a few cheat sheets behind when they left the Coliseum.

Not a lot of penalties: Two powerplays apiece in the 2nd, one each in the 3rd. Isles powerplay obviously came up short. Joel Rechlicz and Raitis Ivanans fought in the 1st. [video]

Shots: The Islanders outshot the Kings 11-4 in the first and 9-5 in the third, 29-22 for the game. Woo.

Interesting ice time distribution: Josh Bailey-11:27, Rob Schremp-15:14, Sean Bergenheim-11:03 (no PK time). Doug Weight played and logged 18:47; hope the groin doesn't bark.

Also interesting: Bailey was 2-for-7 on faceoffs. Schremp was 6-for-8. John Tavares, who by far took the most, was 10-for-22.

Random Impressions from the Ether that Affirm My Distaste for Day Games

Doug's period-by-period at Official's Outlook:

"Just for the record, Tim Jackman is not John Tavares."

Speaking of Schremp, from Islesblogger Mike's live blog:

I am a Shremp believer!! He seems to be everywhere and involved in everything. He was the trailer on the play and just smacked the puck out of the air and hit the post. Great hands!

BUBBA GUMB SHREMP CO.

Alan Hahn's Twitter:

Nothing more exciting than watching one team neutral zone trap a 1-0 game against a team with zero offense to begin with. Yawn!

Metalcoconut in our game thread, on the topic of booing Ryan Smyth:

We should be applauding him for leaving or laughing at him for choosing a team that would have finished worst than us if it wasn’t for his contributions. The Nelson laugh from the Simpsons [audio] would be perfect if you could get everyone to do it the first time he touched the puck.

thefredelement Twitter (Ouch.):

The #Isles with John Tavares are remarkably like the #isles without John Tavares

A measured view from pauljsquire's Twitter:

Not a great game at all by the #Isles. But the #kings played a much better game, as to be expected. Taking our lumps now...

A fan-centric view I identify with via czar0406 @Twitter:

Another close loss for the Isles :( I love this team to death but they keep breaking my heart. They need to know how to win again.

That is all for now. As if it weren't obvious, over the past few years I've fast developed negative association with these Columbus Day games. Today's game doesn't exactly change that -- the only game for six days, and I'm stuck at work -- but it was at least fun to steal glimpses and updates from people around the Web.

Next Up: Friday in Buffalo. Lots of lineup machinations to toss around between now and then...