LOS ANGELES — The Kings’ offense still needs a jump-start.
Mason Marchment scored two power-play goals, Kirill Marchenko had one, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the goal-starved Kings, 3-1, on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored and Anton Forsberg made 27 saves for the Kings (15-11-9), who were held under three goals for the sixth straight game and 13th time in the past 17. They have lost five of their last six games as they begin a stretch in which they will play seven of eight at home.
“We obviously want to put on a show for our great fans,” Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson told NHL.com. “We’re not scoring goals. Special teams is kind of killing us right now, so we’ve got to figure that out soon.”
Jet Greaves made 23 saves and Damon Severson had two assists as Columbus (15-15-6) snapped a four-game road losing streak and won for just the second time in nine games (2-6-1) overall.
Columbus was without defenseman Zach Werenski, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury he sustained while blocking a shot against the Ducks on Saturday. Werenski leads the Blue Jackets in goals, assists and points, and his 14 goals is tied with Washington’s Jakob Chychrun for most in the NHL by a defenseman.
However, newcomer Marchment made up for it, scoring twice in the first period and giving him three goals in two games since being acquired from Seattle on Friday. He had just four goals in 29 games to start the season with the Kraken.
“Like I said, it’s just hockey,” Marchment told NHL.com. “There’s going to be different systems, but for the most part, you’ve just got to play the game. There’s going to be space where there’s going to be space, and you’ve got to find it and try to take advantage of it.”
He opened the scoring 4:07 into the game when he moved in from the blue line and fired a wrist shot off Forsberg’s blocker from the slot. Columbus added an opportunistic power play-goal with 23.5 seconds left in the first period. Boone Jenner’s shot from the high slot took a double deflection off of Damon Severson’s stick and into the net off of Marchment’s shoulder.
Kuzmenko got the Kings on the scoreboard with 1:19 left in the second, cutting the deficit in half when he threw the puck on net and into traffic from the blue line, with Greaves unable to make the stop.
Marchenko added a third power-play goal for the Blue Jackets when he scored from the left circle on a quick shot past Forsberg with 5:46 remaining in the third. The three goals with the man-advantage were a season high, and it was the third time the Blue Jackets have had multiple power-play goals.
The Kings were playing for the first time since trading third-line center Phillip Danault to Montreal on Friday, but newly-promoted bottom six centers Alex Turcotte and Samuel Helenius struggled to make a consistent impact with frequent penalties creating a choppy game flow.
Columbus went 3 for 7 on the man advantage against a Kings team that has allowed goals on the penalty kill in five of its past seven games, having conceded at least four power plays in six of those contests.
“I mean, when we take eight minors a game, teams can start breaking us down, so we’ve just got to be smarter,” Edmundson told NHL.com. “Keep our sticks down and take less penalties. It gets tiring for killers. It seems like every game we’re taking way more minors than the other team.”
Columbus killed off all five Kings power plays after entering with the third-worst penalty kill in the NHL at 72.9%. The Kings’ power play ranked third from the bottom of the league, entering the night at 14.6%.
KINGS SIGN LOMBARDI
The Kings have signed prospect center Jimmy Lombardi to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced on Monday.
Lombardi, 18, was a fourth-round selection of the Kings (No. 125 overall) in June’s NHL entry draft, which took place a stone’s throw from Crypto.Com Arena.
The 6-foot, 190-pound pivot is in his third season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds, wearing a letter and producing well above a point-per-game pace. He is committed to the University of Michigan for next season, the second campaign in which Canadian major junior players will have the option to continue their career in the NCAA.
Lombardi fits the mold of many mid-round picks, particularly for the Kings of late, in that he could have middle-six upside but should at least find a home in the bottom six eventually. His compete level, maturity and tenacity appear in virtually every scouting report on the Toronto native, who played for the vaunted Don Mills Flyers in his youth.
Yet Lombardi could also have offensive upside, with supple hands that allow him to make plays at high speeds and give few tips to opposing defenders about what’s coming next. His scoring profile had trended toward playmaking, but he has a much more balanced profile this season. He’s on pace to catapult from 13 to 42 goals year-over-year, while also increasing his assist production.
He sits fourth on the OHL leaderboard in goals and is one of just three skaters to have 20 or more goals and 20 or more assists this season. The others are Kieron Walton, a Winnipeg Jets prospect and Sudbury Wolf, and OHL scoring leader Nathan Aspinall. Aspinall skates on Lombardi’s wing, and is a 2024 New York Rangers fifth-round selection.
Lombardi is the second player from this most recent class to be signed by the Kings after they inked second-rounder Vojtěch Čihař to an entry-level deal earlier this month.
UP NEXT
The Kings host Seattle on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Correspondent Andrew Knoll contributed to this story.