FINAL – Kings 5, Blue Jackets 6 (OT) – Kempe, McLellan

The Kings picked up a point in Columbus, but fell again in overtime, tonight by a 6-5 final on Sunday evening at Nationwide Arena.

Forward Anze Kopitar led the way with two goals in defeat, while forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Adrian Kempe and Blake Lizotte each scored for the Kings.

Columbus scored twice in the opening 20 minutes to take a 2-0 advantage into the first intermission.

First, forward Kirill Marchenko scored the first goal of his NHL career, off a poised assist from linemate Kent Johnson, to put the hosts on top 6:44 into the game. Less than three minutes later, forward Boone Jenner scored on the power play to extend the Columbus advantage to 2-0. Stationed directly at the top of Quick’s crease, Jenner deflected a shot from Jack Roslovic for his tenth goal of the season.

The Kings surged back, however, with two goals in the opening half of the second period to tie the game at two. First, forward Arthur Kaliyev fed Kopitar in alone, where the captain deked to his forehand, outwaited Columbus netminder Elvis Merlikins and slotted home for the fifth time in seven games. Lizotte tied the game 8:25 into the middle frame, as he finished a scramble in front for his sixth goal of the season.

The Blue Jackets pulled ahead off a 2-on-1 rush to take a 3-2 lead just past the game’s halfway mark. After the Kings got caught up ice offensively, Columbus went back the other way in an odd-man situation, with Roslovic feeding forward Patrik Laine through the slot and the Finnish winger burying from the left-hand circle for his eighth goal of the season.

Just shy of five minutes from the second intermission, the Kings answered to tie the game for the second time. Off a feed from defenseman Sean Durzi, Anderson-Dolan worked his way into a good area and slotted a well-placed shot, high on the glove side, for his second goal of the season and a 3-3 scoreline.

In the final two minutes of the second period, Columbus scored twice on special teams to take a 5-3 lead into the second intermission. First, with the Kings on the power play, the Blue Jackets went the other way and Roslovic scored a shorthanded goal, off a 2-on-1 rush, to pull the hosts ahead. Roslovic then scored on the power play 91 seconds later, as he one-timed a feed from Johnny Gaudreau past Quick for his second goal and fourth point of the evening.

For the second time on the evening, the Kings overturned a two-goal deficit to tie the game, this time with two goals from a span of just 39 seconds.

First, Kopitar collected his second goal of the game to bring his team within a goal. The captain used quick hands around the net to pull the puck around Merzlikins and slot home on the forehand for a multi-goal game. The Kings equalized less than a minute later through Kempe, who picked up his tenth goal of the season and his 100th career NHL goal with the game-tying marker.

The Blue Jackets won the game in overtime, off a goal that went under an extensive review process before the call on the ice was upheld as a good goal. Head Coach Todd McLellan’s explanation of the play is below.

Hear from Kempe and McLellan following tonight’s game.

Adrian Kempe
On his general takeaways from tonight’s game
Yeah, a good first and third period, in the second period obviously we played too risky, I felt like we gave up too many chances 5-on-5 and when we were on the power play. That was the game. We have to put together a full 60 to win and maybe we could have got away with two tonight, but obviously not good enough in the second period.

On why he feels the team is struggling to play a full 60 minutes right now
I think in the first and third periods we showed that we can play really tight in the d-zone, we closed quick on their team and we kept it simple. Get pucks to the net, it’s the easy things you always say but that’s the way we play and when we play our best, that’s how we play. In the second period, I felt like it was too risky, too many turnovers and that’s not our game, that’s not what we agreed on earlier in the year, the way we should play. It’s the simple things but that’s how it is.

On the response in the third period that led to the Kings tying the game at 5
Yeah, I mean we were talking about it in the room going into the third. Everybody knew that we needed a lot better from ourselves and we showed that in the third. Obviously, we can’t play a good 40 minutes and not for 20 minutes and expect to win. It was a good comeback, but unfortunately we couldn’t get two points.

On if he can take any pride in his 100th goal on a night the team lost
No, not really for me. It’s nice to get on the scoresheet, you know, it’s been a while and I think I’ve been have some ups and downs for myself and as a team. I think our line played pretty solid tonight and that’s something that we have to build on.

Todd McLellan
On the explanation he received on the game-winning goal
Well, we were told after it was ruled upon and obviously the league and the referees get together, that it was gloved ahead but that we had possession. I obviously don’t agree with it, but there’s nothing I’m going to do about it.

On the team’s inability to play a full 60 minutes
We’ve got to care about more situations that are important coming back to our end. We have world-class players, guys that we brought in to be shutdown players that missed assignments tonight. It’s not the bottom six, it’s the top six right now. That’s great that we’re scoring all these goals, but obviously we’re not getting enough points. I’m not sure that we value the checking part as much as we have in the past, it’s just go and score and it’s disappointing. Another hard game to evaluate, I’ve been saying that pretty much the whole year. Great that we come back, great that we score goals, great that we stick with it, but the carelessness is killing us.

On missing Drew Doughty, especially on the second half of back-to-back sets
I think that’s an easy question to answer, obviously he plays 26 minutes a night and calms things down back there, but you know in some of the situations it didn’t matter if we had Drew and Rob Blake on the ice together. Our forwards pinching at bad times, giving up 3-on-1’s, our power play creating a turnover for a goal, it doesn’t matter who’s back there.

On getting contributions from the fourth line with goals from Lizotte and Anderson-Dolan
That’s where it’s confusing, really, because we have outstanding efforts from a lot of guys and they produce goals. Guys that maybe don’t score quite as much. Then there’s others that just didn’t get it done and needed to.

Notes –
– Anze Kopitar picked up his 42nd career multi-goal game, moving him one multi-goal game shy of tying Butch Goring (43) for seventh-most in franchise history. Kopitar became the second Kings player this season to reach double digits in goals.
– Adrian Kempe scored his 100th career goal, the game-tying goal, becoming the 13th member from the 2014 NHL Draft class to reach such mark.
– Forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan (second) and Blake Lizotte (sixth) each recorded goals tonight, Lizotte’s fourth point (1-3-4) over his last five games.
– Kevin Fiala increased his team-leading point total to 32 (9-23-32) with his secondary assist on Kopitar’s second period goal. Fiala now has nine points (2-7-9) in his last six outings against Columbus and 11 points (3-8-11) from nine career games versus the Blue Jackets.
– The Kings fell to 2-5 in games that end during overtime this season and 3-5 in all games that extend past 60 minutes. LA has dropped its last four games that include overtime.

The Kings have a scheduled off day tomorrow in Buffalo, following the back-to-back. The team will hit the ice on Tuesday morning for morning skate in Western New York.