Somehow the thinned-out version beat Anaheim 3-2 on Tuesday anyway. Palat, Eklund and Holmstrom, on the power play, all scored in the 1st period, and 3 different lines got on the board. The other side of it: the Ducks were on the back end of a back-to-back and had lost 4 straight, and New York didn't score after the 1st. A 3-goal opening period against a tired team says less about how the Islanders hold up for 60 minutes than the final score suggests.
Goaltending is where the Kings' turnaround showed up first. Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves in Washington and kept the Capitals scoreless for the final 41:25 after a rough opening 20 minutes. If Los Angeles is going to make a habit of comebacks, it needs Kuemper doing that every night, because an offense that only just found its footing can't afford to trail by 2 every game. The Kings also get Wednesday off between the 2 East Coast stops, so they shouldn't arrive on Long Island tired.
The real question for New York is center depth. Without Barzal, Ritchie and Maccelli, DeBoer is mixing call-ups into a lineup that has to deal with Kempe and Panarin, who both look a lot more awake than they did a week ago. This is also the last home game before the Islanders start a 3-game road trip Sunday in Dallas, so they'd like to bank 2 points before leaving UBS Arena. Puck drop is 7:30 PM ET.
Here's the matchup: a Kings team that finally broke through on offense, against an Islanders team that keeps finding goals from wherever it can while the injury list grows. If Tuesday was a real turning point for Los Angeles, this is where the Kings can show it. If Tuesday was a one-off, a short-handed Islanders team at home is a good spot for them to prove that too.