LA Kings are on the road again this week

The Los Angeles Kings played their first two games of a five-game road trip with a back-to-back on March 9 against the Blue Jackets (rescheduled from Jan. 26) and March 10 against the Bruins. 

Los Angeles Kings get three out of a possible four points in back-to-back games in the East early this week

Against the Blue Jackets, the Kings struck first with new addition Scott Laughton scoring his 10th goal of the season. It was his second goal as a King after his debut on March 7, where he also scored a goal. In the same period, another new King, Artemi Panarin, gave the Kings a 2-0 lead with his 21st goal of the season, his second as a King as well.

The Blue Jackets got on the board when former Canuck Conor Garland who was acquired at the trade deadline scored his 8th goal of the season and his first with Columbus. Making the score 2-1 after one period.

About halfway through the second period, Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk tied the game. With eight minutes left in the same period, Garland scored his second goal of the day, giving  Columbus a 3-2 lead. Two minutes later, Adrian Kempe tied things up at three-all while scoring his team-leading 24th goal of the season. Anze Kopitar got the primary assist, which was his 1,305th career point, leaving him two points behind Kings' all-time leader Marcel Dionne.

The second period in a three-all tie. With ten minutes left in the game, defenseman Brian Dumoulin gave the Kings a 4-3 lead with his second goal of the season. With less than two minutes left, the Blue Jackets tied things at four apiece when Kirill Marchenko scored on the power play, forcing overtime. The Kings eventually won 5-4 with Adrian Kempe scoring the game-winner, making a great start to the road trip. 

The Kings then flew out east to Boston, trying to keep momentum on their road trip. The first period was scoreless for both teams, with low shots due to great defense. The second period remained scoreless as well, with the neutral zone being clogged up by both teams.

This resulted in a low shot count for both teams. The Kings had eight, and the Bruins had 12. Boston got on the board first, eight minutes into the third period, when Mason Lohrei scored his seventh goal of the season.

With six minutes remaining in the game, defensemen Drew Doughty scored his fourth goal of the season, tying the game at one-all. The rest of the period was scoreless, leaving both teams tied, forcing overtime again. This also marked the eighth straight overtime game at TD Garden between the Kings and the Bruins, with the Kings owning a 5-2 record. Unfortunately, Boston won in overtime when Charlie McAvoy scored the game-winner only 39 seconds in. The road trip is off to a good start with the Kings netting three out of a possible four points.

The Kings wrap up their road trip against the three New York Area teams, starting March 13 against the Islanders, followed by the Devils on March 14, and concluding on March 16 against the Rangers.