So much for a fast start after three off days.
Warren Foegele had two points with a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Blue Jackets have dropped four straight.
Losing Streak Hits Four
After a winning October, the Jackets are facing in-season adversity for the first time as their winless streak has reached four games.
Off to an 0-3-1 November, Columbus has been squeezed offensively while in California. They fired a season-high 50 shots on goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. Then despite scoring first again versus the Kings on Saturday night, they could not find the equalizer in a tight affair.
Gavikov's tally continued a four-game point streak (two goals, two assists) for the one-time Blue Jacket.
"Just key moments in the hockey game where we gave opportunities (that led to Kings goals)," head coach Dean Evason said. "The first goal, we turn it over. The second goal, we make a huge mistake. Third goal, we turn it over.
"In key areas on the ice, we have to make the right reads or clearly not turn the puck over in key areas of the ice in order to give teams momentum to come back after us and we did that here tonight."
More from #CBJ coach Dean Evason: "We're not disappointed in our overall game. It's just we have to clean up these key mistakes."
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) November 10, 2024
A Couple Of Firsts
Columbus struck first thanks to Voronkov's first goal of the year in the first period at 13:26 with an assist to Justin Danforth.
Dmitri Voronkov scores his first goal of the season #CBJ | Watch on FanDuel Sports Network pic.twitter.com/5ELJjLRnnI
— FanDuel Sports Network Columbus (@FanDuelSN_CBUS) November 10, 2024
"We thought (Voronkov's) game was good," Evason said. "Obviously scored, but he was holding onto pucks. He was carrying it through the neutral zone. Looked like he felt a lot more comfortable so we got to get him onto the ice more than we did here tonight."
Voronkov has played in four games since his return from injury and played 12:24 Saturday night.
Ivan Provorov's power-play goal at 0:49 of the third period was his first tally of the year. The goal cut the deficit to 3-2 and came just 19 seconds after Trevor Moore scored a shorthanded goal to give the Kings a two-goal lead.
Ivan Provorov's first goal of the year comes on the power play, Jackets back within 1!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/wRjCW7Ac0q
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 10, 2024
Danforth picked up his second point of the game on the assist and Adam Fantilli had an assist. Columbus was 1-for-3 on the power play.
"For a decent amount of the game, we were playing the right way, we were playing our game but there were a few costly mistakes that we made that ended up in the loss," Provorov said.
Kings rookie Samuel Helenius made his NHL debut and had an assist.
With his second period assist, Samuel Helenius has become the 51st player in Kings history to record their first career point in their NHL debut, and the 25th to do so at 21 years of age or younger. pic.twitter.com/6eHo9h09Bn
— LA Kings PR (@LAKingsPR) November 10, 2024
Tough One In Net
Elvis Merzlikins took the loss to fall to 2-4-1 in seven starts. He came into the night with a .910 save percentage and 2.69 goals against average but in a game that got away from the team late, he now has a save percentage back under 90 percent (.899) and a 2.89 GAA.
Merzlikins made 18 saves on Saturday night while Counterpart David Rittich made 24 stops. L.A. was 1-for-4 on the power play.
Most likely Daniil Tarasov will get the start in the second game of a back-to-back when Columbus faces the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.
Last Stop
Columbus finishes the California part of its road trip on Sunday, Nov. 10 against the Ducks at Honda Center. Puck drop is set for 8:00 p.m. ET. The trip will conclude on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Seattle, when the Jackets face the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
