Kings defeat Blue Jackets in overtime

LOS ANGELES --Alec Martinez scored 1:14 into overtime to help the Los Angeles Kings defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at Staples Center on Tuesday.
Drew Doughty tied the game with 5:40 left in the third period, getting a sharp-angle wrist shot past Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a read on the puck but was unable to keep it from going off his skate and into the net.
Anze Kopitar had a goal and Peter Budaj made 19 saves for the Kings (3-3-0), who have gone into overtime or shootout in each of their past three games and have won each of them.

"I think we're finally playing our game," Martinez said. "We're finally playing in a rhythm. Every game, I'd say that we got better in certain areas but we were just out of sync. I think we're finally playing more of a north-south game."
Kopitar made it 1-1 at 13:40 of the second period when he finished off a give-and-go with Tom Gilbert. But less than a minute later, Dustin Brown was penalized for holding and it took Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson eight seconds to score on the power play to make it 2-1 at 14:51.
The Blue Jackets are 5-for-10 with the man-advantage this season and have scored a power-play goal in four of five games.
"I was really [happy] that when they scored, we come right back and score a good power-play goal," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We were playing OK, but I just don't think we sustained enough of a forecheck to gain any momentum."

Brandon Saad gave Columbus (2-2-1) a 1-0 lead from the right circle 1:31 into the second period.
Tortorella said the Blue Jackets capitalized on the few quality scoring chances they had.
"I don't think there's a lot of scoring chances in the game," Tortorella said. "I think they out-chanced us, but not by many. They didn't have many more. That's the way these games are played."
Bobrovsky made 27 saves.
"I think [Bobrovsky] would like the second one back," Tortorella said. "He made some key saves for us tonight. But it wasn't really an offensive game."

Goal of the game

Martinez was in the right place at the right time. Tanner Pearson put a shot on the net from the left circle, drawing Bobrovsky out to the top of the crease. When the rebound came the other way to Martinez, he was able to easily sweep it in behind him.

Save of the game

With the game tied at 2-2 and 2:05 left in the third period, Devin Setoguchi broke away and got off a backhand from point-blank range right as David Savard caught up with him, but Bobrovsky knocked it away with his glove, keeping the game tied and sending it into overtime.

Highlight of the game

Kopitar circled the net and found Gilbert up top. Gilbert passed it right back to Kopitar at the edge of the circle and he went top-shelf over Bobrovsky.

Unsung moment of the game

Nicholas Shore got the puck off the wall, made a move around Seth Jones to find Doughty, coming over the boards and skating in for the goal.
"I got on the ice and had a lot of ice in front of me, really," Doughty said. "[Shore] had the puck, and I know how good his vision is, so it was pretty simple for me. I just had to go down that wing, and he found me."

They said it

"I thought we did a lot of good things. We didn't have our best first period, but got going in the second. We knew it was going to be a grinding-type game. They're a tough team, they play against the wall, but credit to the guys in here for sticking with it, but [we] couldn't find a win in extra time." -- Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno
"Obviously we don't want to go into overtime every time, but it just shows our character. Our third periods have probably been some of our best periods lately. Our second period hasn't been good enough, and that's why we're going into overtime every time. This shows just how deep we are and how badly we want to win, coming through with a big third period and a big overtime too." -- Kings defenseman Drew Doughty

Need to know

Kopitar is one goal away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the Kings' all-time lead. … Los Angeles won its first game of the season when entering the third period trailing. Last season, it won a League-leading eight games when trailing after 40 minutes. … The Kings hadn't played three straight overtime games since Dec. 9, 2009 - Dec. 12, 2009. … Kings forward Tanner Pearson extended his point streak to a career-long four games. … Blue Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray missed his second straight game because of an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day.

What's next

Blue Jackets: At the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; CSN-CA, FS-O,
NHL.TV
).
Kings: Home against the Nashville Predators on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-TN,
NHL.TV
).