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Blake helps Kings crown Islanders

Feb 1, 2008 - 4:19 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Kings made the most of a rare visit to Long Island.

Defenseman Rob Blake snapped a tie at 7:22 of the third period and Alexander Frolov added an empty-netter as the Kings posted a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday.

Matt Moulson also scored and Jason LaBarbera made 28 saves for Los Angeles, which was visiting New York for the first time since February 16, 2004.

Derek Armstrong recorded an assist for his 200th career point for the Kings, who registered the 500th road win in franchise history.

Blue-liner Bryan Berard tallied and Wade Dubielewicz turned aside 24 shots for the Islanders, who have lost six straight home games.

"We were a good team at home last year and we made the playoffs," New York's Mike Sillinger said. "We're going to have to pick up our play. Especially in our building, we have to come out from the first shift."

"We need to get this thing going, whether we shake up the line combinations or shorten our shifts to get out of this funk we're in," Islanders coach Ted Nolan added.

With the game even at 1-1, the Islanders were called for having too many men on the ice at 6:22 of the third period. Exactly one minute into the power play, Dustin Brown made a pass from the left faceoff dot that was redirected between the pads of Dubielewicz by Blake, giving the Kings the edge.

"You need to win the power-play battle every game if you want to be successful," Blake said.

The goal was the fifth of the season for Blake and first in his last eight games.

Dubielewicz received the start for New York as Rick DiPietro battled the flu. The All-Star did, however, dress as the backup.

Blake's goal helped Los Angeles improve to 1-0-1 on its season-high eight-game road trip.

"We understood the challenge at hand coming on this type of a trip after the break," the former Norris Trophy winner said. "We had a good effort in Philly (on Tuesday). Tonight, we got the job done."

"It got us off on the right foot now," Kings coach Marc Crawford added. "Whenever you have these long road trips, you don't have (time) to re-adjust. We can build (on this). We have a lot of tough buildings to play in."

Losers of three of their previous five games, the Kings opened the scoring midway through the first period.

After grabbing a loose puck at the right side of the crease, Moulson fanned on his initial shot. But the 24-year-old regained possession and tucked the puck inside the goalpost at 10:35 for his second goal in as many games and a 1-0 lead.

"The guy came around the net and tried to wrap it," Dubielewicz said. "It went off something in front. That's our luck right now. He misses it and gets a second whack and puts it in. It's the way things are going for us."

With teammate Brendan Witt's high-sticking penalty expiring, fellow defenseman Berard forged a tie with 5:41 remaining in the period.

From the right corner of his own zone, Los Angeles blue-liner Lubomir Visnovsky attempted a pass to the left point that was intercepted by Berard. With a clear path to the net, the former Calder Trophy winner skated down the wing and beat LaBarbera for his fourth tally of the campaign.

"I read (Visnovsky's) eyes," Berard said. "I think they thought they were still on the power play there. I was able to pick the pass off and bury it."

Crawford felt his team was fortunate to escape the first period with just one goal against, crediting the play of LaBarbera, who made 10 saves in the session.

"The Islanders came out with a nice start," Crawford said. "(LaBarbera) looked calm and confident in the net. His demeanor spurred our troops on. They knew Jason was on top of things."

Los Angeles also came up big in the third, preventing New York from scoring on its only power-play chance in the game midway through the period. Committing just one non-coincidental minor penalty was a key for the Kings, according to Crawford.

"It was a huge factor," he said. "We haven't been a disciplined team all year. We don't kill penalties all that well. It was a great kill by us at the end of the game. We got our bodies in front of it and Jason was there every time we needed him to make a save."