LOS ANGELES — Trevor Moore netted a short-handed goal, while Alex Laferriere recorded his ninth of the season, contributing to the Los Angeles Kings’ 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday evening.
Los Angeles has shown strong form recently, going 4-1-1 in their last six encounters. Their home performance has been equally impressive, maintaining a 4-1-1 record at home so far this season. This success follows their previous campaign where they led the league with the best record after the All-Star break during the 2023-24 season.
Despite a slow start that saw them trailing after Dmitri Voronkov’s opening goal for Columbus, the Kings rallied in the second period. They regained control of the game with Vladislav Gavrikov scoring through heavy traffic, followed by Warren Foegele finishing off a counter-attack just 1:56 later.
For the Blue Jackets, Ivan Provorov contributed a power-play goal, although the team has now lost four consecutive games, with three of those losses occurring in regulation. Interestingly, this marked their first defeat of the season when leading after the first period, as they had previously held a favorable record in that scenario.
Brandt Clarke capped off the game for Los Angeles with an empty-net goal in the final minute, while goaltender David Rittich made 24 saves to secure the win.
In terms of takeaways, Columbus’s offense has struggled recently, scoring only nine goals over their last five outings, a sharp decline from their average of 4.13 goals in the initial eight games of the season.
On the Kings’ side, Samuel Helenius, a second-round pick from 2021, made his NHL debut and celebrated his first career point with a secondary assist on Foegele’s goal.
A crucial moment in the match came when Laferriere deflected Joel Edmundson’s shot into the net at 7:05 in the third period, providing Los Angeles a much-needed insurance goal that had eluded them in previous games.
Statistically, the Kings have now scored 27 goals in the third period this season, highlighting their ability to rally and perform well as games progress. In contrast, they have netted 11 goals in the first and 16 in the second periods.
Looking ahead, the Blue Jackets are set to visit Anaheim on Sunday, while the Kings will travel to Calgary on Monday.