The Columbus Blue Jackets were hoping coming off of three days rest would be the catalyst to good things on their California road trip. Saturday night did not go according to their plan.
The Kings got points from 11 different players on route to their 5-2 win over the Blue Jackets. Goaltender David Rittich made some key saves early in the game to allow the Kings to grab the momentum in the second period. They didn’t look back.
Game Recap
The Blue Jackets had some jump as expected to start the game thanks to their days off in the Los Angeles area. They were able to parlay that into a lead after the first thanks to Dmitri Voronkov.
Justin Danforth drove the wing and found Voronkov driving the net. The pass was perfect and Voronkov made no mistake. It was his first goal of the season. That on top of killing two Kings’ power plays gave them the momentum going into the locker room after 20 minutes.
But as soon as the second period started, the Kings turned up the emotion. Just 4:16 into the second, former Blue Jacket Vladislav Gavrikov tied the game. His shot went off the bar and in through a maze of players. There wasn’t much Elvis Merzlikins could do with that.
Then just 1:56 later, another turnover led to Warren Foegele giving the Kings a 2-1 lead. He was the recipient of a great pass from Akil Thomas. The Blue Jackets needed a spark. They turned to a familiar face in order to get some.
Mathieu Olivier dropped the gloves with the Kings’ Andreas Englund. Olivier won the fight in what turned out to be the Blue Jackets’ first fighting major of the season. While it evened the game out for a bit, the Blue Jackets didn’t get what they wanted out of it.
Starting the third with a power play, it was Trevor Moore who scored just 30 seconds in to make it 3-1 Kings. Ivan Provorov responded with his first of the season to cut it to 3-2.
But then Alex Laferriere scored his ninth and Brandt Clarke sealed it with an empty netter to make the final score 5-2. Merzlikins stopped 18 of 22 shots faced. Rittich stopped 24 of 26.
The Blue Jackets dropped to 5-6-2 and have a quick turnaround as they play the Anaheim Ducks Sunday. Meanwhile the Kings play in Calgary on Monday night.