Blue Jackets earn point against Kings thanks to late Marchenko goal

Adrian Kempe scored his second goal of the game at 2:34 of overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Monday.

Kempe came off the bench, took Artemi Panarin’s pass and scored on a slap shot from the left circle after Los Angeles controlled the puck for the entirety of overtime. Kempe’s 11th career overtime goal tied Jeff Carter for most in franchise history.

“I just tried to get lost a little bit, and then as soon as ‘Bread’ looked up, I tried to get a couple steps and then just fire as hard as I could, didn’t even look,” Kempe said.

Kirill Marchenko had scored a power-play goal to tie it 4-4 for Columbus with 1:56 remaining in the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Brian Dumoulin had a goal and two assists, and Panarin and Scott Laughton each had a goal and an assist for the Kings (26-23-14), who had lost seven of nine (2-6-1). Anze Kopitar had an assist to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists), and Anton Forsberg made 28 saves.

“I thought we played well,” Kempe said. “Good character win. Again, I think we needed this one bad. … It was a well-fought win and well-deserved two points.”

Los Angeles began a five-game road trip by moving within one point of the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Conor Garland scored twice, and Denton Mateychuk had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets (32-21-10), who extended their point streak to six games (3-0-3) and are 13-2-3 since Rick Bowness took over as head coach on Jan. 12. Jet Greaves made 26 saves.

“We’re scoring four goals, we should be winning games,” Bowness said. “To give up five back to back is really disappointing. That’s not who we are.”

Columbus pulled within two points of the Boston Bruins for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

The game, originally scheduled for Jan. 26, had been postponed because of heavy snowfall during Winter Storm Fern.

Laughton gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 6:46 of the first period after scoring from the crease on Dumoulin’s centering pass. It was his second goal in as many games since being acquired in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

Panarin extended it to 2-0 at 14:48 from the top of the left circle on a wrist shot. He has eight points (two goals, six assists) in seven games since being acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4.

Garland cut it to 2-1 at 17:35 on a sharp-angle shot from below the right circle. Garland was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, and it was his first goal and point in two games for Columbus.

Garland had not scored since Dec. 16 in the Canucks’ 3-0 win at the Rangers, ending a 24-game goal drought.

Mateychuk tied it 2-2 at 10:53 of the second period on a backhand from the right half wall through traffic.

Garland gave the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead at 12:13, keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 break before beating Forsberg with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Kempe tied it 3-3 at 14:09 by putting in the rebound of Dumoulin’s shot from the blue line, which took a redirect off Kopitar’s skate.

Dumoulin put Los Angeles back in front 4-3 at 10:07 of the third on a wrist shot from the slot following sustained possession in the offensive zone. Dumoulin had three points in a game for the second time in his NHL career, matching the goal and two assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 5-2 win at the Blue Jackets on Jan. 21, 2022.

“Third period, we found a way to win,” said Los Angeles interim coach D.J. Smith, who is 2-2-0 since replacing Jim Hiller on March 1. “Of late, we find ways to lose. We found a way to win tonight. And we’re scoring goals, we just got to do a little bit better job of keeping them out.”

NOTES: Kopitar has 1,305 NHL points (447 goals, 858 assists), two away from tying Marcel Dionne for the Kings' franchise record (1,307 points). … Panarin recorded his 37th career overtime point (10 goals, 27 assists), moving into a tie with Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Elias for 10th in NHL history. … Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro had a minus-1 rating and one shot on goal in 17:29 of ice time in his return after missing two games because of a lower-body injury. … Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson left late in the first period and did not return because of an upper-body injury. Gudbranson, who was hurt on a check by Panarin, will not travel for the Blue Jackets’ three-game road trip, which starts at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.