March 7, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Mason Marchment (17) celebrates a goal against the Utah Mammoths in the third period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images The Columbus Blue Jackets will try to take a step toward making the playoffs for the first time since the COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 season when they take on the Los Angeles Kings on Monday afternoon.
The Blue Jackets entered Sunday two points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 20 games remaining.
Columbus has scored at least one point in five of six games since the Olympic break (3-1-2), most recently a 5-4 overtime loss against the visiting Utah Mammoths on Saturday.
The Blue Jackets scored twice in the final seven minutes of regulation to extend the game and force the extra point.
“I think it’s a very confident group now that they’re here,” said Columbus coach Rick Bowness, who was hired to replace Dean Evason on Jan. 12. “For example, we had Game 3 (against Utah) and we said, ‘We’ve been here a lot since we’ve been here, and we’re going to be here a lot more over the next 20 games. That’s the reality of this situation.’”
The Kings are also in the playoff hunt, three points out of the Western Conference’s final wild-card spot entering Sunday’s games.
Los Angeles wasn’t as sharp as Columbus coming off the Olympic break. In fact, the Kings fired coach Jim Hiller on March 1 and replaced him with DJ Smith.
The Kings have lost 3-2 with Smith behind the bench, and most recently lost 4-3 in regulation Saturday against the visiting Montreal Canadiens after taking a 3-2 lead with six minutes left.
The Kings outscored Montreal 16-1 in the first period but were only able to build a 1-0 lead before the Canadiens found their legs.
“We have to learn from this,” Kings forward Alex Laferriere said. “There were nights where we worked out and got two points, and obviously when that happens, we take it, but on a night like (Saturday) when we seemingly outplayed them in every area of the ice and felt like we outplayed them all, it was pretty heartbreaking to not get the win.”
Even though the Kings took 39 shots against Montreal, Smith believes they could have attempted more shots.
“You can sling it in or take it out there whenever you get the chance on the back end,” he said. “And then the forwards have to do a better job or continue to do a good job of getting above the goalkeeper.”
The Kings play their next five games and eight of their next 10 on the road, giving them the best record in the Pacific Division at 15-8-7 this season.
“Time is running out,” Laferriere said. “We have 20 games left and we need every point. When I say we have to learn from this, I mean we can’t change what just happened (against Montreal), so we have to take the positives from the game and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
–Field level media
