LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Kings know all about poor starts
Tomas Tatar Jersey , their first periods at home being something less than highlight material of late.But they are nothing if not resilient, and after
falling behind 2-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, they stormed
back for a 5-2 victory.”There are a lot of character guys in this room,” said
forward Nate Thompson. ”They’ve been through a lot together. They’ve done a lot.
It’s a veteran group that we know when we get down, that guys just dig
deeper.”Thompson turned the momentum around by scoring the Kings’ first goal in
the second period. It was his fifth goal of the season and first with the Kings
since arriving in a Feb. 13 trade with Ottawa.”I thought the first goal by
Thompson was huge for us,” said Kings coach John Stevens. ”It really got us
going and we really had some momentum after that.”Alex Iafallo had two goals,
and Tanner Pearson and Jeff Carter also scored for Los Angeles. Carter’s goal
came on a shorthanded breakaway. Christian Folin had three assists and Jonathan
Quick stopped 30 shots.Columbus coach John Tortorella also believed Thompson’s
initial goal sparked the Kings.”I thought we lost our composure and never
totally got it back,” Tortorella said. ”I don’t think the support was there like
it was in the first period. They played better. We didn’t make enough plays.
There were some plays to be made. We had some good minutes.”I thought Quick made
some key saves. He played better and better as the game went on.”Cam Atkinson
and Seth Jones scored the early goals for the Blue Jackets. Joonas Korpisalo
saved 29 shots on goal for Columbus.Atkinson’s goal came from a nifty backwards
pass from behind the net from Mat Calvert that went through the legs of Anze
Kopitar and to the charging Atkinson, who snapped it behind Quick’s back.The
Kings scored three times in the second period to take a lead they would never
relinquish. They looked like a much different team than the one that trailed 2-0
after the first period.”They came out hot,” Folin said. ”We kind of got on our
heels. You have to give them credit. They came out really good.”But we talked in
the room after the first period, that we needed to respond. We have 40 minutes
to turn this thing around. And we did.”The Kings had played back-to-back games
in a home-and-away series with the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday and Tuesday,
but Stevens thought his team was ready for Columbus.”We were a step, maybe two
steps, slow in the first period,” he said. ”It seemed like we were late to
pucks, we were late to checks. They were playing the game at a lot higher pace
than we were.”I think the room was ready, we were just a step off. We weren’t
trying to change anything tactically
William Karlsson Jersey , just our whole game pace had to come up a step and it did.”NOTES: The Kings signed their 2017 first-round pick (11th overall),
Gabe Vilardi, to a three-year entry-level contract. The 18-year-old forward from
Kingston, Ontario, has played in 134 career games in the Ontario Hockey League,
totaling 142 points (60-82). … Iafallo scored twice Thursday, but had only six
goals entering the game. … The Kings have won three straight and six of their
last eight. … The Blue Jackets remain two points ahead of Carolina for the final
wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Continue their
three-game trip in California on Friday in Anaheim.Kings: Remain at home to play
Chicago on Saturday.— TORONTO (AP) Auston Matthews got the go-ahead goal in the
second period, Patrick Marleau scored twice, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat
the Boston Bruins 4-2 on Monday night in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference
first-round series.James van Riemsdyk also scored and Mitch Marner and Morgan
Rielly added two assists each ti help Toronto pull to 2-1 in the best-of-seven
set. Frederik Andersen stopped 40 shots.Adam McQuaid and Zdeno Chara had the
goals for Boston, Sean Kuraly had two assists, and Tuukka Rask finished with 26
saves.The Maple Leafs will look to even the series at home in Game 4 on Thursday
night.DEVILS 5, LIGHTNING 2NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Taylor Hall had a goal and two
assists, setting up Stefan Noesen’s game-winner with 7:05 play, and New Jersey
scored four times in the third to beat Tampa Bay in Game 3.Rookie Will Butcher
had a power-play goal earlier in the third to tie the score 2-all, and Blake
Coleman and Ben Lovejoy added empty net goals late. Cory Schneider made 34 saves
while starting in place of Keith Kinkaid.Schneider, who seemed to hurt his groin
in a collision with Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh midway through the final
period
Alex Ovechkin Jersey Kids , survived a late power play to nail down the win and pul;l the Devils to 2-1 in the best-of-seven first-round series.Alex
Killorn and Steven Stamkos each had a power-play goal and an assist for the
Lightning. Nikita Kucherov added two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36
saves.Game 4 is Wednesday night at the Prudential Center.SHARKS 8, DUCKS 1SAN
JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Joonas Donskoi scored one goal and set up another to start a
four-goal barrage in the second period and San Jose raced past Anaheim for the
third straight game to take a 3-0 series lead.Donskoi scored and then set up
Marcus Sorensen in the opening four minutes of the second period to seize
control of the game and series.Eric Fehr and Tomas Hertl added goals later in
the second to turn this all-California series into a rout. Logan Couture had a
goal and two assists, Joe Pavelski, Evander Kane and Timo Meier scored
power-play goals in the third period, for the Sharks, who have outscored the
Ducks 14-3 through the first three games of the first-round series.Martin Jones
made 45 saves, the most for a Sharks goalie in a regulation playoff game.San
Jose will look to complete the sweep in Game 4 at home Wednesday night.Rickard
Rakell scored a power-play goal for Anaheim, which has scored three goals all
series – including just one at even strength.AVALANCHE 5, PREDATORS 3DENVER (AP)
– Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, including one as part of a three-goal first
period and another to chase Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne from the game, and
Colorado pulled to 2-1 in the first-round series.Blake Comeau and Gabriel
Bourque also scored in a furious opening period that revved up a pom-pom waving
capacity crowd. Gabriel Landeskog was credited with an empty-net goal for the
Avalanche, who snapped a 12-game skid against the Predators.Game 4 is Wednesday
in Denver.MacKinnon’s goal at 4:25 of the second period gave Colorado a 4-0 lead
and prompted the Predators to pull Rinne in favor of backup Juuse Saros. Rinne
allowed four goals on 15 shots.Jonathan Bernier stopped 29 shots on a night when
the Avalanche finished 0 for 5 on the power play. Ryan Johansen had a
second-period goal and Colton Sissons scored another in the third to make it
4-2.
