Makeshift Islanders lineup delivers just what was needed to snap four-game losing streak

LOS ANGELES — A work-in-progress Islanders roster delivered a work-in-progress win.On the same day they were reintegrating Matias Maccelli and Ryan Pulock back into the lineup, Pete DeBoer had to remake his lineup on the fly after Jean-Gabriel Pageau left morning skate with a lower-body injury, blunting what would have been unmitigatedly happy news.Imperfect as this was, the Islanders can’t do much complaining. That the resulting 11 and 7 lineup came up with a 5-2 win over the Kings to break a nascent four-game losing streak is ultimately a lot more important than the how of it.

In part because this was a strange circumstance, in part because there’s optimism that Pageau’s injury is minor and in part because this was a group that really needed two points.So, at least in that sense, who cares if it was pretty?Still, this was the sort of West Coast game that ought to get you an award if you stayed up until the wee hours to watch it in New York.Both teams played ugly, the refereeing was ugly, the crowd was sparse and there was a delay for broken glass along the boards.

The Islanders, one minute into a power play during the third period, used their timeout.It was that sort of night.The Islanders could at least be happy about Ryan Pulock getting right back to his level in his first game back from a shoulder injury, picking up two secondary assists, playing a solid role on the breakout and contributing to a defense that looked much more comfortable for his presence in it.Victor Eklund — and the young Swede’s connection with Brayden Schenn — was another spot of encouragement.

Eklund drove the net to finish Schenn’s cross-crease feed on the rush at 5:35 of the second to extend a scoring streak to four games, the longest for an Islanders rookie since Anthony Beauvillier in 2018.That followed Schenn’s goal at 5:50 of the first when he cleaned up the garbage on Pulock’s tipped shot.Undergirding those moments, as well as Matthew Schaefer’s power-play ...