Kings turn back Blue Jackets to stay unbeaten in regulation
Anze Kopitar broke a tie with 2:14 left with his second goal of the game and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4 on Saturday night to remain the only NHL team unbeaten in regulation.
At 6-0-1, Los Angeles is off to the best start in franchise history.
Kopitar also had an assist, Dustin Brown added a goal and three assists, and Jake Muzzin had a goal and two assists. Trevor Lewis, Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, and Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots.
Nick Foligno, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Matt Calvert and Sonny Milano scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Columbus got the scoring started after Adrian Kempe’s tripping penalty, which led to Foligno’s power-play goal at 5:43 of the first period. It was Columbus’ first goal with a man advantage after going 0 for 18 in its last six games.
The Kings struck back at 6:51 on Kopitar’s fifth goal of the season. Kopitar took the pass at the front of the net from a cornered Brown.
The Kings took the lead 42 seconds later when Lewis went top shelf with a backhander over Bobrovsky.
Bjorkstrand tied it, burying a rebound from David Savard past Quick at 8:00, and Columbus made it 3-2 at 14:02 when Calvert corralled a bouncing puck that had been manhandled toward the net by Jack Johnson and Josh Anderson.
Muzzin tied it again when he went over Bobrovsky’s left shoulder 40 seconds into the second period.
The Kings took the lead just over three minutes later when Doughty’s shot from the left end of the blue line caught Bobrovsky off guard. BLACKHAWKS 4, COYOTES 2 >> Lance Bouma scored on a rebound with 4:24 left in the third period, Corey Crawford stopped 27 shots and Chicago kept Arizona winless.
The Coyotes have been playing better lately, but their only point is an overtime loss to Vegas the second game of the season. Arizona was aggressive and Louis Domingue made some spectacular saves against the Blackhawks after being replaced by rookie Adin Hill the past two games.
STARS 4, HURRICANES 3 >> Tyler Pitlick scored two goals for the first time in his career, leading Dallas past Carolina. LIGHTNING 7, PENGUINS 1 >> Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov extended their season-opening points streaks to nine games and Tampa Bay beat two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh. Stamkos had a goal and three assists, and Kucherov had two goals and an assist. RANGERS 4, PREDATORS 2 >> Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey each had a goal and an assist to help the New York Rangers snap a fivegame skid with a win over Nashville. PANTHERS 4, CAPITALS 1 >> James Reimer stopped 41 shots while filling in for the injured Roberto Luongo to help Florida end a threegame losing streak with a win over Washington. Evgenii Dadonov, Vincent Trochek and Aleksander Barkov each had a goal and an assist for Florida, and Connor Brickley also scored.
FLYERS 2, OILERS 1 >> Wayne Simmonds scored on a feed from Valtteri Filppula with 2:15 left to break a tie and lead Philadelphia to a victory over slumping Edmonton.
SENATORS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 3
>> Derick Brassard and Mark Stone each had two goals and an assist, Erik Karlsson had three assists and Ottawa beat Toronto.
SABRES 5, BRUINS 4 >> Ryan O’Reilly scored 2:59 into overtime to give Buffalo a win over Boston, capping a comeback from a pair of three-goal deficits.
PENGUINS-RED WINGS
TRADE >> The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired forward Riley Sheahan and a 2018 fifth-round draft pick from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for forward Scott Wilson and a 2018 third-round draft pick. Detroit also sent defenseman Ryan Sproul to the New York Rangers for forward Matt Puempel.