FINAL – Kings 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT) – Arvidsson, Yawney

The LA Kings overturned a two-goal deficit for the third time in eight games, as they came from behind to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets by a 4-3 final in overtime on Friday evening at Nationwide Arena.

Forward Viktor Arvidsson led the Kings with his fourth career hat trick, while forward Dustin Brown also scored in the victory. Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 26 saves to earn the victory between the pipes.

After they controlled the majority of the first half of the game, the Kings finally got on the board exactly 34 minutes in, through Arvidsson. Off a won faceoff in the offensive zone, Arvidsson took the puck at the top of the circle and fired past Columbus netminder Elvis Merzlikins, glove side, for his 16th goal of the season.

The Blue Jackets responded with three goals in 46 seconds during the second period, as a 1-0 Kings advantage became a 3-1 deficit heading into the intermission.

First, forward Patrik Laine scored from a dangerous area on the slot, as Columbus forced a turnover behind the net, kicking the puck to Laine, who went top glove for the goal, his 21st of the season. Forward Oliver Bjorkstrand put the hosts ahead 25 seconds later, as he buried a pass through the slot to make it 2-1. That short lead doubled just 21 seconds after that, as forward Justin Danforth got in on the action as he put away a loose puck from just outside the crease.

The Kings pulled one back early in the third period to reduce the deficit to a single goal. Brown collected the puck along the left-wing wall, cut to the top of the left-hand circle and fired a shot that deflected off the glove of Merzlikins and trickled in. Brown’s goal was his seventh of the season, giving him points in consecutive games.

The visitors forced overtime, earning a guaranteed point in the process, late in the third period as Arvidsson netted his second goal of the evening. Off of an exchange with Kopitar in the slot, Arvidsson pulled the puck onto his forehand in the low slot and buried the wrist shot for his second goal of the evening.

After a roller-coaster of an overtime, Columbus thought it had the victory, but saw the potential game-winning goal ruled back for offsides, as called in by the NHL’s Situation Room. With a second lease on life, the Kings took advantage of their opportunity and won, on Arvidsson’s third of the evening. Arvidsson took a breakaway feed from Phillip Danault, deked to the backhand, delayed and elevated his shot over the pad of Merzlikins to seal the deal.

Hear from Arvidsson and Trent Yawney following the victory.

*Forward Brendan Lemieux suffered a lower-body injury during the first period and did not return to the game.

Viktor Arvidsson

Viktor Arvidsson talks with the media following his hat trick winner#LAKingsLive | @LAKings pic.twitter.com/LWYS4oExfb

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 5, 2022

Trent Yawney
On Todd McLellan’s consistent praise for the team’s comeback mentality
Yeah, [Todd] just texted me and said they don’t want to do it the easy way. There’s a lot of character in the room. Those two goals in the second period kind of came off our stick. I thought the first was really strong, it looked a lot like us. The second, they’re a good team, they’re 7-3 in their last 10 games, I think I read they’re the third highest scoring team since the end of January. If you give them chances, they’re not going to miss and they didn’t. I thought the guys stuck with it, it was making sure that we didn’t try to chase it too quickly and do our thing. Brownie’s goal was a bit of a relief on the bench, I think they could feel that maybe there was an opportunity.

On Viktor Arvidsson and his ability to get into high-danger areas
Well, he’s nice to have on your team, because when I was in Anaheim, he was in a yellow sweater and he used to do that a lot. He’s an opportunist, he’s got a great release on his shot. He scored three, he hit the crossbar and hit the post, it was following him around a little bit and it was a nice move in overtime as well.

On the players impacted by the line adjustments made for this game
I thought that JAD was really good, it’s his first game and I thought he skated well. Moving Al down gave that line a little bit more stability and I thought Byfield was skating well, trying to get some things accomplished, which was good, and Brownie’s goal was a big goal in the third period.

On the emotions of overtime, and realizing they’d get a second chance
From my vantage point, I couldn’t really see whether it was offsides, and as soon as they scored [Derik Johnson] said “whoa whoa” and as soon as I looked down, you could see it was clearly offsides. We tried to keep positive on the bench that we’re going to get another opportunity here, so let’s reset and get ready to go. It was nice for the guys to finish it off like that.

On Jonathan Quick’s third period play, and his breakaway save
The breakaway save was huge. I think if they score there, obviously, it’s a different game. That was a really, really big save and I think the guys really fed off of that one as well.

Notes –
– Forward Viktor Arvidsson scored three goals in tonight’s victory, the fourth hat trick of his NHL career.
– Forward Dustin Brown scored his seventh goal of the season, giving him points in consecutive games.
– Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault, Trevor Moore and Drew Doughty each tallied an assist in the comeback victory.
– Defenseman Matt Roy led all Kings skaters with six shots on goal
– Four of the last eight Kings games have featured a comeback from two goals down to win (3 for, 1 against). The Kings are tied for third in the league with four comeback wins this season of 2+ goals
– The Kings are now 4-5 in games that end in overtime and 6-7 in games that extend past 60 minutes.

The Kings are scheduled to travel to Buffalo this evening – and practice there tomorrow – in advance of Sunday’s afternoon matinee against the Sabres.