LOS ANGELES _ The Columbus Blue Jackets are getting healthier, but the Blue Monsters are still wreaking havoc for them.
Despite getting rookie forward Emil Bemstrom and defenseman Markus Nutivaara back from long-term injuries, Columbus started a four-game trip with a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings with the help of two former Cleveland Monsters.
Elvis Merzlikins made 34 saves for his third win in four starts since Joonas Korpisalo went down with a torn meniscus, and the Blue Jackets got goals from Nathan Gerbe, Scott Harrington, Kevin Stenlund and Gustav Nyquist _ who put one into an empty net to seal it with 1:00 remaining.
Alex Iafallo scored in the first period and defenseman Sean Walker scored goals for the Kings, who got 17 saves from Jonathan Quick.
Leading 2-1 after two periods, the Jackets went up 3-1 at 4:49 of the third on a great shot by Stenlund, who beat Quick with a wrist shot that went over the pad and under the blocker. It was his third goal in 11 games as an emergency fill-in from Cleveland and turned out to be the winner.
Walker cut it to 3-2 at 11:15 with a shot through traffic, ratcheting up the intensity over the final 9:45 of the game.
After a lackluster first period, the Blue Jackets overcame a 1-0 deficit with goals in the second by Gerbe and Harrington, who scored 3:47 apart for a 2-1 lead.
Gerbe scored his second goal of the season with a one-timer from the high slot that made it through traffic _ including a screen in front of the net by Pierre-Luc Dubois _ and Harrington rewarded Sonny Milano for a great feed, beating Quick from close range for his first goal.
Columbus was outshot in each of the first two periods, 12-6 in the first and 10-6 in the second, but Merzlikins held the Kings to just Iafallo's goal 1:26 into the game.
It could've been several more had it not been for the Jackets' rookie goalie.
The Kings owned the first, not only taking a 1-0 lead on Iafallo's goal but also applying pressure from start to finish and doubling the Blue Jackets in attempts (24-12).
Iafallo scored off a backhand of Walker's rebound, sliding the puck between Merzlikins' pads, but that was all the Kings got past him through the rest of the first and entirety of the second. Merzlikins made 15 saves to keep it close _ including several from close range _ and made 10 more in the second.
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