Carl Grundstrom had a goal and an assist in Los Angeles’ four-goal second period, Pheonix Copley made 30 saves and the Kings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 Thursday.
Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Viktor Arvidsson also scored to help the Kings improve to 7-0-1 in their last eight games.
Kirill Marchenko scored for Colón. Daniil Tarasov was pulled in the second quarter after allowing four goals on 27 shots, and Michael Hutchinson made nine saves in relief. The Blue Jackets have lost five of six.
After dominating the first period but having nothing to show for it, the Kings finally took the lead early in the second in Doughty’s fifth of the season. He used clever stick handling to get into the groove before taking advantage of his own rebound.
Kopitar made it 2-0 less than three minutes later, and that was enough for the Kings to advance to a 2-0-1 start to their seven-game home stay.
Copley extended his record to an improbable 21-4-3 in 31 appearances. Neither Copley nor Joonas Korpisalo have allowed more than two goals in the seven games since the Kings sent franchise icon Jonathan Quick to the Blue Jackets on February 28. One day after leaving for Columbus, Quick was traded to Las Vegas.
Since returning from the All-Star break, the Kings are 12-2-2. They haven’t lost in regulation in nine home games during that stretch, their only loss coming in a shootout against Nashville on Saturday.
