Blue Jackets at Kings
The Columbus Blue Jackets have found the path to success on the road while the Los Angeles Kings desperately are trying to take steps toward turning their season around during their seven-game homestand. The Blue Jackets bid for their fifth road win in six outings on Saturday when they continue their trek through the Golden State and face the Kings, who have dropped seven of their last eight overall.
Sergei Bobrovsky has struggled mightily this season, but the two-time Vezina Trophy recipient showed his mettle with 44 saves in Columbus' 4-1 victory over San Jose on Thursday. "It was a good game to start the trip and it's a good game that we can show them things on what we need to do to be successful," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "Hopefully, it will continue." Los Angeles' temporary good fortune came to an end as it answered snapping a six-game losing skid in Sunday's 4-3 win over the New York Rangers with a 5-2 setback versus Philadelphia on Thursday. "We just have to be consistent. We can't play one game and we then think that we're back at it. ... You've got to be 100 percent ready every game," said Ilya Kovalchuk, who scored and set up a goal against the Flyers to give him five points in his last two contests.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Columbus), FS West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (7-5-0): Josh Anderson scored in his second straight game and third time in four outings on Thursday while fellow forward Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist to register his second multi-point performance in his last four contests. Duclair has recorded six of his eight points away from the Buckeye State, although Tortorella believes that there's more that the offseason acquisition can bring to the table. "I can see the warts on Duc, I can," Tortorella said. "We're going to spend a lot of time with him trying to scrape them off because he's worth it. We think there's such a high end that's there. We're going to help him. One way or another, we're going to help them to try to get there because I think it would be very important to our club."
ABOUT THE KINGS (3-8-1): Jeff Carter recorded his second multi-point performance of the season against his former team, but the 33-year-old lamented Los Angeles' inability to keep its guard up after his power-play goal. "It's frustrating," Carter said of the team surrendering the go-ahead tally just 49 seconds later in the second period. "Whoever it is, you get a goal that gets you back in the game and then we give one up and it's happened a bunch this year. It's happened to my line a bunch. It's just kind of the way things are going right now for us." The Kings don't have much firepower as it is, with the team ranked last in goals (24) and goals per game (2.00) and 26th in power-play percentage (14.0).
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles has scored at least one power-play goal in four straight home games, going 6-for-16 in that stretch.
2. The Blue Jackets have surrendered the first goal in four consecutive contests and seven of their last eight while the Kings have failed to find the net in the first period of their last five outings.
3. The Kings do not have a player on the active roster with a positive plus/minus rating.