Blue Jackets Grind Past Kings on Marchenko’s OT Goal – The Hockey Writers Columbus Blue Jackets Latest News, Analysis & More

The Columbus Blue Jackets came into Saturday night’s game with the Los Angeles Kings playing their fourth game in six nights. If they were going to win, they’d have to grind it out against one of the NHL’s stingiest teams. They ultimately found a way.

Kirill Marchenko scored the game-winning goal in overtime while Zach Werenski & Dante Fabbro scored in regulation to lift the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 win over the Kings. Werenski’s goal extended his home points streak to 19 games.

The story of this game for the Blue Jackets was hanging in there throughout the night.

Game Recap

Back home after a long four-game road trip, the Blue Jackets got off to a good start. Werenski opened the scoring on a nice feed from Luca Del Bel Belluz. For Del Bel Belluz, it was his 8th point in 10 games since being called up.

The Kings didn’t take long after that to tie the game. Off a faceoff, Kevin Fiala scored on a rebound. The Kings of late have scored a lot of their goals by crashing the net. Postgame, Merzlikins said he had issues trying to see a lot of shots with so many bodies in front of him.

While there was no scoring in the second, it was an even period on the shot clock. However, the Kings continued to use their size and speed to dominate possession. The Blue Jackets were able to better control second and third chances in the second to keep the game 1-1 after 40 minutes.

The Blue Jackets needed the sellout crowd to lift them up especially in the third period with some tired legs. They got a goal from defenseman Dante Fabbro just 2:51 into the third. Damon Severson got the puck to Fabbro who slightly changed the angle and released a shot from the point. The seeing-eye shot beat Darcy Kuemper.

The Kings appeared to tie the game on an Alex Laferriere goal. However, the Blue Jackets took their time and almost ran out of time to challenge the goal for offside. Their video personnel called down but the bench couldn’t hear them right away. After a lengthy review, Evason elected to challenge. It worked.

Danault was slightly offside on the entry. That gave the Blue Jackets a push and some life to try to close out a 2-1 game. But with Kuemper pulled, Quinton Byfield scored to make it 2-2. The Kings had over 2:00 of offensive-zone possession before the goal. The Blue Jackets failed to clear multiple times.

The rest of regulation went by with no more scoring. The Blue Jackets responded well and didn’t panic despite losing the lead. At 3:45 of overtime, Marchenko saw he had a forward covering him and went hard to the net. While crossing in front of Kuemper, he flew through the air and beat Kuemper to give his team an important second point. Merzlikins was first star of the game with 31 saves. Kuemper made 21 saves in the overtime loss.

The Blue Jackets will end Saturday night in a playoff position with 55 points. They now get four days before heading back on the road for another tough road trip. They’ll take Sunday and Monday completely off before practicing on Tuesday.

As for the Kings, they head up I-75 to Detroit for a Monday night tilt with the Red Wings.