Surging Blue Jackets beat Kings 3-2, stay hot under Torts

LOS ANGELES_Cranky was the buzz word of the day (and night).

Tempers flared, one of many skirmishes throughout the contest, at 14:20 of the first when Quick charged Hartnell outside the Kings’ net and a scrum followed.

Attack together, check together, and defend together – and if the Blue Jackets were going to take down the red-hot Los Angeles Kings, they would need nothing less than a team effort.

Cam Atkinson and Gregory Campbell also scored for the last-place Blue Jackets in their fourth victory of Tortorella’s brief tenure, which began after coach Todd Richards was sacked last month.

“We’ve got to get better, as far as bearing down when we get our opportunities”, Kings left wing Milan Lucic said of the third period. “We’re striving for an identity, and I thought tonight was a good step in trying to play the right way”. “We played hard in the third, and it’s a big win for our team. Hopefully, we can learn from something like this, no matter who your opponent is… everyone is coming to play, night in, night out”. Kopitar had missed the final two periods of Tuesday’s game at St. Louis after getting hit in the right side of the head by the Blues’ Ryan Reaves.

John Carlson had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, whose 9-3-0 record tied the best start in franchise history. In the third period, I thought we defended well and battled. “I feel good for the guys”.

Kopitar had no shots on goal nor did his linemate Marian Gaborik.

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Jonathan Quick stopped 22 shots and Alec Martinez scored a power-play goal for the Kings, who opened a five-game homestand with a clunker. Assists went to Brown and defenseman Jamie McBain.

Offense all but vanished in the second period.

Later in the first period, things got testy when Columbus forward Scott Hartnell poked at Jonathan Quick’s glove after the puck had been covered for a few seconds.

Campbell converted a attractive drop pass by defenseman Jack Johnson, a former King, at 10:52 of the third to put the Blue Jackets on top 3-1.

Columbus and the Kings combined for 50 penalty minutes in the first two periods.

The series of scraps made it for a choppy, inconsistent game. As it was, Sutter had been talking about the inability of Kopitar’s wingers to find any offensive consistency.

Kings center Jeff Carter delivered a goal, his sixth this season, with a minute left in the contest to slice the deficit to one, but the Blue Jackets held on.

Columbus (4-10-0) was the league’s hottest team to close 2014-15, going 12-0-1, and a second playoff berth in three seasons seemed attainable heading into the season.

“It hasn’t happened too often where I have more penalty minutes than assists, so I’ll try to correct that as soon as I can”, said Kopitar, who had two penalty minutes before Thursday’s game to go with zero assists after leading the Kings with 48 assists last season.