Kings rally past Blue Jackets, tie NHL record with 10-0-0 road start

COLUMBUS -- Drew Doughty scored 33 seconds into overtime, and the Los Angeles Kings tied an NHL record with their 10th straight road win to start the season, 4-3 against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

Los Angeles, which rallied from down three goals in the third period, tied the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres for the longest road winning streak to open a season.

Doughty won it with a one-timer from the top of the left circle.

“It’s huge,” Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said. “Winning is always fun, especially right now. That kind of hot streak, we’ve got to keep going.”

Phillip Danault scored twice, and Gavrikov had two assists for the Kings (15-4-3), who play at the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. Pheonix Copley made 26 saves.

“We played two pretty poor periods to start with and if we wanted to have any chance of coming back, we had to change our mental approach to the game, and physical, but more mental,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “A lot of uncharacteristic things in the first two periods, not necessarily that we were outworked but certainly outmanaged, and in the third we adjusted a few things. Most of that was between the ears.”

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist, and Elvis Merzlikins made 35 saves for the Blue Jackets (8-14-5).

“We stopped playing our game,” Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski said. “We stopped doing what we're doing for the first two periods and we let them back in. I don't know what the answer is to that.

“What do we have to lose at this point? Let’s keep playing aggressive. Why are we trying to play defense and let teams be in our zone and get shots and stuff like that? At this point in the season, we have to find ways to win games.”

Danault made it 3-1 just 23 seconds into the third period with a deflection of Matt Roy’s shot. He then cut it to 3-2 at 5:08 by jamming the puck across the line before Merzlikins could gain control.

Arthur Kaliyev tied it 3-3 at 6:38 with a second-chance goal near the right post.

“We definitely woke up in the third period, that one was better, and just took charge,” Danault said. “We started to be more direct and scored some goals.”

Kirill Marchenko gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 9:07 of the first period on the power play.

Gaudreau increased the lead to 2-0 at 5:24 of the second period. Werenski poked the puck ahead to him in the neutral zone to create a break and Gaudreau shot high glove-side for his fourth goal.

Mathieu Olivier scored at 12:03 for a 3-0 lead. He put a rebound of a David Jiricek shot between Copley’s pads.

The Blue Jackets led 1-0 against the Boston Bruins 1-0 in the third period Sunday before Brad Marchand scored a natural hat trick in a 3-1 loss. They also led 2-0 against the Carolina Hurricanes with 10 minutes left and lost 3-2 on Nov. 26.

“The way we played the first two periods, we had nothing to change. Just we were a little bit hesitant,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “So, it's experience, confidence.”

The Blue Jackets are 1-2-5 after losing the lead in the third period.

“We just seemed to be in this kind of vicious circle where we start a game strong, have really good first few periods and then we kind of back off. It needs to be addressed,” Olivier said. “We can’t keep talking about this. We’ve got to figure out a way to stop that.”

NOTES: The Kings hadn't overcome a three-goal, third-period deficit and won since Nov. 10, 2007, against the Dallas Stars. … Los Angeles trailed on the road for the first time since Oct. 27 at the Arizona Coyotes, when it trailed for 44:27 before rallying to win 5-4. The other time the Kings trailed on the road was Oct. 19 at the Minnesota Wild for 7:46 in a 7-3 victory. … Gavrikov played for the first time here since being traded to the Kings on Feb. 28. He had 73 points (15-58 goals, 73 assists) in 256 games for Columbus. … Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine and defenseman Erik Gudbranson did not play due to illness.