Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere score to power Kings past Blue Jackets
Trevor Moore scored shorthanded, Alex Laferriere got his ninth goal of the season, and the Kings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings are 4-1-1 over their last six games. That is also the Kings’ mark on home ice to start the season, picking up where they left off after posting the league’s best record following the All-Star break in 2023-24.
The Kings overcame a sluggish first period, falling behind on Dmitri Voronkov’s goal, before they took charge with Vladislav Gavrikov’s shot through several screens and Warren Foegele’s finish off the rush 1:56 apart in the second.
The NHL suspends Kings forward Tanner Jeannot for three games for an illegal check to the head of Vancouver’s Brock Boeser on Thursday.
Ivan Provorov had a power-play goal for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four straight, with three of those defeats coming in regulation. It was their first loss in five games when leading after the first period this season.
Brandt Clarke added an empty-netter in the final minute for Los Angeles, and David Rittich had 24 saves.
Takeaways
Blue Jackets: The offense has dried up for Columbus, scoring nine goals over their past five games. They had averaged 4.13 goals over their first eight games.
Kings: Samuel Helenius, a 2021 second-round pick, made his NHL debut and got his first career point with the secondary assist on Foegele’s goal.
Key moment: Laferriere tipped Joel Edmundson’s shot in at 7:05 of the third, giving Los Angeles the insurance goal it had struggled to create earlier in the year.
Key stat: After picking up three more tonight, the Kings have scored 27 goals in the third period, continuing their knack for getting going as games go on. They have scored 11 in the first and 16 in the second.
Up next: The Blue Jackets visit Anaheim on Sunday, and the Kings visit Calgary on Monday.
