Surprise! Columbus Blue Jackets lose once more, 3-2 to Los Angeles Kings - NHL Update
It seems like there is nothing the Columbus Blue Jackets would try to get a confidence boosting victory as they increased their current losing streak to six games after a 3-2 loss at the hands of Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012.
Los Angeles, after playing their last game on Monday, January 23rd, came back from the All-Star weekend with the easiest game on any NHL team’s calendar, and even with the rustiness that comes with a long layoff, Kings had enough in the tank to
move past a poor Blue Jackets side.
The victory consolidates Kings' position in the playoffs as they move up to seventh in the Western Conference with a 25-16-10 record and 60 points.
Kings' goaltender, Jonathan Quick made 20 saves during the game against a surprisingly attacking Blue Jackets' side.
Drew Doughty, who scored the winning goal for Kings, said that Blue Jackets' astonishing fight during the game was due a result of Kings not taking this game seriously.
However, he was happy to get the win even though the Kings did not perform fully.
"I don't know what the reason is," Doughty said.
"Maybe we take them too lightly going into the game. But we got the win, even though we didn't play our best, and that's a good thing. So we have a lot to look forward to when we do play our best."
Columbus Blue Jackets' coach, Todd Richards looks as if he is running out of ideas about excuses to explain the consistent string of losses and took to blaming the game’s time keeping.
"Watching the replay and talking with our producer who runs our show, the clock stopped at 1.8 seconds, and it stopped for 1.5 seconds, and they scored with 0.5 seconds," he said.
"Something happened, and it's really disappointing."
Kings took the lead 8:40 into the first period as Justin Williams scored on a one-man advantage, receiving a wonderful assist from Drew Doughty, to put the puck past Blue Jackets' goaltender, Curtis Sanford.
Sanford made 30 saves during the game.
The Blue Jackets equalised in the first minute of the second period as Derek Dorsett beat Jonathan Quick from close range.
Dustin Penner regained Los Angeles’s one goal advantage at 14:32 with a brilliant solo effort, but Blue Jackets again came from behind to score the equaliser with Colton Gillies doing the honours, with his first goal of the season.
It seemed for most of the time that the game would surprisingly go into overtime but Drew Doughty stepped up at the right time.
With just seconds left in the third period Doughty scored on a power play to make it 3-2, and the clock ran out to confirm the win for Kings.
Los Angeles will be travelling to play its next game against St. Louis Blues on Friday, while the Blue Jackets will go to face the Anaheim Ducks.
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