Panarin scores twice in Blue Jackets win against Kings

COLUMBUS --Artemi Panarin scored two goals for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Lukas Sedlak and Josh Anderson scored, Cam Atkinson had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (17-12-2), who scored twice in 20 seconds in the second period.
The Blue Jackets had lost two straight.
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"We needed a bounce-back tonight," Anderson said. "We were all expecting it."
Dustin Brown scored, and Jonathan Quick made 37 saves for the Kings (11-20-2), who lost their third straight game (0-2-1).
The Kings played their third road game in four nights. They are 2-6-1 in the past nine games.
"For whatever reason they were quick on us," Kings coach Willie Desjardins said. "They were hard to handle in the corners. We couldn't handle them in our D end tonight. We have to find a way to be better than that."
Brown gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 3:54 of the first period when a pass out of the corner by Alex Iafallo went off the stick of Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski to Brown, who scored his ninth goal.
Sedlak's first goal in 54 games tied it 1-1 at 5:31. He was at the crease for the tap-in from a backhand pass by Oliver Bjorkstrand. Sedlak was scratched the previous two games.

"Finally," Sedlak said. "I had a couple of open nets too so I didn't have time to think about it. It was a great play by [Bjorkstrand]. It was easy for me."
Panarin made it 2-1 at 10:13. Pierre-Luc Dubois' cross-crease pass went off a stick to Panarin low in the left circle and he scored his first goal in six games.
Panarin extended the lead to 3-1 on the power play at 16:25 of the second period after he settled a rebound at the left dot. Seth Jones had the primary assist for his 200th NHL point.
Anderson scored his 13th goal at 16:45 to make it 4-1.
"We have a 2-1 game with chances," Kings forward Anze Kopitar said. "You give up that power-play goal, it brings you down a notch. They come back and make it a three-goal game."
Anderson's status was in doubt after he left the game Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks with an upper-body injury.
"I felt fine. I felt like I had a lot of energy," Anderson said. "I played physical, played my game."

The Kings had a power play early in third but it lasted 22 seconds before Anderson stripped Drew Doughty and Doughty hooked him.
The Kings were 0-for-3 on the power play and are scoreless in eight opportunities in the past three games while their penalty kill has stopped 9 of 12. Columbus was 1-for-3 on the power play.
"It's been a special teams battle way too much this year," Kings forward Jeff Carter said. "It's a huge, huge part of where we're at. A lot of it falls on us as leaders of the team."

They said it

"It's a tough building to play in. They're homers. They play very hard at home. Obviously very physical and the game's definitely not easy."-- Kings forward Anze Kopitar
"It was really good to see him score. You see him, he's always smiling. Sometimes he smiles too much for me but he's always so upbeat. I'm happy for him." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella on forward Lukas Sedlak

Need to know

Sedlak last scored Dec. 20, 2017 in a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Atkinson has 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) in his past 15 games. … The Blue Jackets took a season-high 41 shots. … The Kings have 134 man games lost to injury, the Blue Jackets 23. … The Blue Jackets are 9-0-0 on Thursday's this season, including 4-0-0 at home.

What's next

Kings:At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, ATTSN-PT, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets:Host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, KCOP-13, NHL.TV)