The LA Kings started a five-game roadtrip on a high note, as they skated to a 5-4 overtime victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday evening at Nationwide Arena.

After killing off an early double-minor penalty, Los Angeles opened the scoring midway through the opening period, as forward Scott Laughton made it two for two in his Kings career. Forward Alex Turcotte gained the offensive zone with possession and found defenseman Brian Dumoulin trailing the play. Dumoulin made a move to his left and shot towards the net, with Laughton getting a deflection on the way through, past Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves and in, for the early 1-0 advantage.

The Kings doubled their advantage with just over five minutes remaining in the opening period, as forward Artemi Panarin buried his second goal with the organization. Skating on an extended shift, Panarin connected with forward Samuel Helenius in the offensive zone, before he picked up the puck in the slot, spun onto his forehand and beat Greaves with a low shot on the blocker side for the 2-0 lead.

Columbus got one back late in the first period, moving to within 2-1 at the first intermission. The Blue Jackets controlled possession with a good offensive-zone shift and eventually worked the puck around the outside, to defenseman Ivan Provorov at the point. Provorov’s shot was blocked down in front but forward Sean Monahan swept it to forward Conor Garland at the back post, where he scored his first goal with the organization to pull his team back within one.

The Blue Jackets tied the game at two midway through the second period, with defenseman Denton Mateychuk leveling the score. Operating down the right wing, Mateychuk put the puck towards the net softly and it made its way through traffic in front, past Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg and in for the game-tying goal, Mateychuk’s tenth of the season.

The hosts then made it three unanswered goals to take their first lead of the game. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty lost control of the puck at the left point and Columbus quickly went the other way, 2-on-1. Garland kept the puck himself down the right wing and placed his shot inside the far post, past Forsberg and in for his second goal of the game and a 3-2 lead for the Blue Jackets.

Less than two minutes later, the Kings responded with a strong shift from the top line to tie the game at three. With Dumoulin and defenseman Cody Ceci active offensively, the Kings attacked as a five-man unit, resulting in a shot from the point by Dumoulin, which was kept out by Greaves, though the rebound fell directly to forward Adrian Kempe, who buried from close range to knot the score at three goals apiece.

Dumoulin turned his multi-point game into a three-point game as he scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to put the visitors ahead 4-3. Moving in from the left-point, Dumoulin dragged the puck onto his forehand, around a Columbus defenseman and beat Greaves clean with a wrist shot from the slot for a highlight-reel goal, his second of the season, to put the Kings up by a goal.

The hosts came back to tie the game late, however, with forward Kirill Marchenko burying his team-leading 24th goal of the season to force things into overtime. Marchenko took a cross-ice feed from defenseman Zach Werenski and moved into the left-hand circle, where he fired top shelf on the glove side, past Forsberg and in, to earn both teams a point as the game progressed into overtime.

Skating 3-on-3, Kempe buried his second goal of the game to give the Kings the second point. Panarin collected the puck along the right wing and found Kempe, with speed, attacking down the far side of the ice. Kempe took the feed in stride, gained a step and unloaded a slapshot from the left side that hit the back of the net to earn the Kings the second point.

Hear from Kempe, Dumoulin and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith following today’s 5-4 victory.

Adrian Kempe

Brian Dumoulin
On the last time he’s pulled that toe drag move out of the bag
I’ve used [that move] a couple times this year, I just haven’t scored, so you guys didn’t remember it.

On an active night for his pair with Cody Ceci in activating offensively
Yeah, I think so. I think it starts with just getting out of his own cleaner. When we have plays and have clean breakouts, then when we spend time in their zone, they have to change and that’s when you can beat guys up the ice and jump in the attack. I think we just have been better at getting out of our zone cleaner and things have been opening up a little bit more for us.

On overcoming a tough travel start to the trip to get the two points
We didn’t really have a choice, especially with a four-minute penalty right off the start, you’re kind of just thrown in it and it’s like, whatever, we’ve just got to go. Forsy kept us in there, huge on those kills, he made some huge saves for us. It was just one of those where we just had to battle through it.

On Anton Forsberg’s play early to keep the game 0-0
Without a doubt, he kept it in check for us. I mean, he was rock solid and made some huge stops, some obviously that that are game changing. Especially that early on, if they get out to a one, two goal lead, they score two goals on that power play, then it’s a different game. He was huge for us on the start,

D.J. Smith
On his takeaways from today’s win
Tough start, obviously, with the penalty, so guys get a little bit cold and we’re not moving our feet. Second period, much better and then third period, we found a way to win. Of late, we find ways to lose, we found a way to win tonight. We’re scoring goals, we’ve just got to a little bit better job keeping them out.

On Anton Forsberg’s play in keeping the game 0-0 on the early penalty kills
He was unreal and that’s what we’re going to need down the stretch here. He made the saves he had to make and then we found ways to score goals.

On the team’s response after a 2-0 lead became a 3-2 deficit
Yeah, I just thought we were calm. We made some mistakes and they scored some goals, but I didn’t think we panicked. I thought in the in the third period, we made some plays and finally we got rewarded with one in the third that’s kind of been going the other way.

On Brian Dumoulin’s play today and a huge goal in the third period
He just made plays for us back there. He was good in the offensive zone. We’re preaching that we want to get to the net a little bit more and we need guys to deliver the puck and he did it. Then, he finds a way to get us that huge goal.

On if he got any kind of an explanation on the disallowed goal in the third period
No, I was told that Toronto would look at it or what have you, but I saw the puck laying on the guy’s pad. I don’t know, but obviously they looked at it and they didn’t deem it to be a goal.

Notes –
– Forward Adrian Kempe (2-0=2) buried his team-leading 24th goal of the season before scoring his 25th of the year in overtime to secure the Kings’ 26th win of the season. With his team-leading fourth overtime goal of the campaign, Kempe extends his point streak to a fifth game (4-3=7), dating back to Feb. 28 against the Calgary Flames. The native of Kramfors, Sweden, has nine points (5-4=9) in seven
games played since returning from the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina.
– Kempe’s second goal of the afternoon marked his 11th career overtime goal (OTG), tying his Olympic teammate Filip Forsberg (11 OTG) for the fifth-most overtime goals by a Swedish player in NHL history while tying Jeff Carter (11 OTG) for the most in Kings franchise history.
– Defenseman Brian Dumoulin (1-2=3) registered his 13th and 14th assists of the season to secure his fourth multi-point game of the campaign before scoring his second goal of the season. The 34-year-old blueliner is the fourth skater to record a three-point game for the Kings this season, following Alex Laferriere, Corey Perry, and Adrian Kempe. This marks the second three-point game of Dumoulin’s career, following another one-goal, two-assist outing on Jan. 21, 2022 against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
– Forward Scott Laughton (1-1=2) opened the scoring this afternoon with his 10th goal of the season, his second goalin as many games played as a member of the LA Kings, before picking up his fifth helper of the 2025-26 campaign on Dumoulin’s goal.
– Per NHL PR, Laughton is the fifth player since 1999-00 to score in each of his first two games with the Kings. Andreas Athanasiou (3 GP in 2020-21), Carl Grundstrom (2 GP in 2018-19) and Brian Boyle (2 GP in 2007-08) and Derek Armstrong (2 GP in 2002-03) are the only ones to do so during that span. The only players with a longer goal steak from the start of their tenure with the franchise are Wayne Gretzky (4 GP from Oct. 6-12, 1988), Andreas Athanasiou (3 GP from Jan. 14-19, 2021) and Bill Lesuk (3 GP from Jan. 29 – Feb. 1, 1972).
– Forward Artemi Panarin (1-1=2) scored his 21st goal of the campaign and recorded 44th assist of the season in his return to Nationwide Arena this afternoon, his 92nd and 93rd points (33-60=93) in the building. Panarin leapfrogs Fedor Tyutin (17-75=92) and David Savard (25-67=92) and ties Derick Brassard (29-64=93) for the 17th-most points in the venue’s history.
– Panarin, whose two campaigns in Columbus rank as the two most productive seasons in Blue Jackets history (28- 59=87 in 2018-19 and 27-55=82 in 2017-18), has recorded 16 goals and 33 points (16-17=33) in 24 career games played against his former club. The Korkino, Russia, native’s 1.38 points-per-game (P/GP) against Columbus are tied with Elias Pettersson (1.38 P/GP) for ninth-highest pace against the Blue Jackets in NHL history. Panarin’s primary assist on Kempe’s overtime goal is the former’s 37th career point (10-27=37) in the extra frame, tying Patrik Elias and Johnny Gaudreau for the 10th most in NHL history, per NHL PR.
– Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) notched his 10th assist of the campaign, his second helper in four career head-to-heads with Columbus.
– Forward Samuel Helenius (0-1=1) recorded his third assist of the year with the lone set-up on Panarin’s goal, marking his second assist in four career games against the Blue Jackets.
– After collecting his 20th helper of the 2025-26 campaign, captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) is now a pair of points away from tying Marcel Dionne (550-757=1,307) for the LA Kings franchise scoring record and needs just three points to own the record outright.
– Kopitar extends his point streak to a season-long fourth game (1-3=4), dating back to March 2 against Colorado. The 38-year-old concludes his 49th and final regular-season contest with the Columbus Blue Jackets with 43 career points (20-23=43) against the franchise from Ohio’s capital, tied with former teammate Corey Perry (21-22=43) for the 11th most
among active players. Kopitar and Perry are joined by Teemu Selanne (21-22=23), Paul Kariya (17-26=43), and Patrick Marleau (19-24=43) in a five-way tie for the 27th most points against Columbus all-time.
– Defenseman Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) collected his ninth assist of the season, his second of the year against the Blue Jackets (0-1=1 on Dec. 22, 2025).
– Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-1=1) collected his 13th assist of the season with a secondary helper on Kempe’s overtime game-winner.
– In doing so, Doughty extends his point streak against the Blue Jackets to a sixth consecutive contest (3-4=7), dating back to March 4, 2022. The native of London, Ontario, posted an eight-game streak (2-11=13) against Columbus from Oct. 25, 2009 through Dec. 15, 2011, and becomes the only defenseman in NHL history to post multiple point streaks against the Blue Jackets of at least seven games in length.
– Goaltender Anton Forsberg turned aside 29 of Columbus’ 33 shots on goal this afternoon to earn his 11th win of the season, his fifth career win against the team that selected him in the Seventh Round (188th Overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft.

The Kings will return to action tomorrow evening against the Boston Bruins at 4 PM Pacific from TD Garden in Massachusetts.