KINGS CONVERT LITTLE IN LOSS N.Y. ISLANDERS 3, KINGS 2.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

Shot after shot went into the glove or off the stick of New York Islanders goalie Garth Snow, and the Kings' frustration mounted by the minute Saturday afternoon.

As they have often this season, the Kings outshot, outchanced and generally outplayed their opponents but came up short, this time with a 3-2 loss to the Islanders in front of 18,118 at Staples Center in the teams' only meeting this season.

The Kings outshot the Islanders 33-16 and held them to just a handful of quality scoring chances, but the New York forwards capitalized on their limited opportunities, while the Kings fired away at Snow without much reward.

``Statistically, when we look at the numbers, we won't be totally unhappy with the outcome, but what good does that do?'' Kings coach Andy Murray said. ``There's no such thing as a moral victory. We dominated in certain areas but we didn't win, so we didn't get the job done.''

Even worse, the Kings missed a chance to gain ground in the Western Conference. The Kings could have moved within six points of eighth-place Edmonton with a victory and also reached .500 for the first time in five weeks, but they failed.

``We have to win now, because it's getting tight,'' said Kings forward Ziggy Palffy, who had a goal and an assist. ``There are a lot of teams in front of us and there's not much time left, but anything is possible in this league.''

The Kings took no satisfaction from the loss, even though they shut out the Islanders in a brilliant third period and put consistent pressure on Snow.

``We need to win all our home games and we didn't,'' Kings defenseman Aaron Miller said. ``We're trying not to look at the big picture, because it's pretty daunting.''

Especially disappointing for the Kings was that after the first 25 minutes, the game seemed all but lost. Kings goalie Jamie Storr, who has been strong since Felix Potvin went down with a knee injury Jan. 28, allowed three goals on the first six shots he faced, but none were bad goals.

``(It was) mistakes on our part that led to their goals,'' Miller said. ``If you are going to be a team that's got to win all their games to get to the playoffs, you can't make mistakes. We'll learn from them. We'll look at the video and know that this was a game that if we played really well, we would have won.''

The Kings killed two penalties in the first nine minutes of the game and seemed to take control with a goal 9:52 into the period.

A scramble of about six players developed in front of Snow, but Palffy came from behind the play and poked the puck out to Mathieu Schneider, who ripped it from the blue line. The puck deflected off Snow's shoulder and dropped over the line.

The Islanders went on the power play just 47 seconds later and scored 26 seconds into the advantage when Arron Asham faked a shot, made a cut to the net and beat Storr with a wrist shot 10:39 into the period.

Former King Jason Blake scored on a breakaway 2:19 into the second period after the Kings failed to dump the puck into the New York zone, and Asham scored his second goal 4:11 into the period when, while stationed in front of the net, he shot a one-timer past Storr for a 3-1 lead.

Palffy got the Kings back in the game with a tremendous individual effort with 7:26 remaining in the second period. He skated into the Islanders' zone down the right side, on a two-on-two rush with Derek Armstrong.

Palffy faked a pass from the right faceoff circle, and Asham bought the fake and slid to the ice. Palffy went around Asham and put a perfect wrist shot past Snow.

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LONG ROAD AHEAD