COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ray Whitney waited 614 NHL games to finally get a hat trick. It came at precisely the right time for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Whitney broke out of a personal slump with three goals and helped the Blue Jackets end a six-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
"First ever. Believe that? Twelve years," Whitney said with a broad smile.
Whitney, who has 184 career goals, had scored two goals in a game 22 times.
"I couldn't believe it was his first hat trick," said Mike Sillinger, who assisted on all three goals. "He's had a couple of 30-goal seasons. Let's face it, he's a pure goal-scorer."
The Blue Jackets were in dire need of some offense after being outscored 32-5 during the losing streak. They were shut out in three of their last four games.
"We battled back," interim coach Doug MacLean said. "We had a lot of things going tonight that we haven't had going."
Whitney's goal 41 seconds into the second period gave the Blue Jackets the lead for good and was their first even-strength goal in more than two weeks -- and more than 360 minutes in game time.
"They had something to prove to their fans," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "They're a hard-working team and we caught them in their first game back home after a tough road trip. They wanted to make up for it. We had to expect that."
Marc Denis made the lead stand with several stunning saves in the third period. He fought off a flurry of three shots early in the period, and blocked drives by Mathieu Schneider and Bryan Smolinski during a late power play.
"Of course, Marc Denis seems to be a common factor in any win we get," Whitney said. "Tonight we kind of slowed it down and thought our way through the game a lot better than we have in the past week."
Denis finished with 33 saves, most coming after the Kings had scored just 1:42 in.
The Kings, who were winding up a five-game road trip, took a 1-0 lead when Steve Heinze, a former Blue Jacket, redirected Lubomir Visnovsky's chip shot.
"They got a fluky bounce to get the game going and that was about the end of it," said Denis. "We kind of regrouped after that. I just thought it was a tremendous total team effort."
Columbus tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal, actually scoring with a two-man advantage as the Kings' Jaroslav Modry scrambled out of the penalty box to get back into the play.
Whitney, who hadn't scored in 14 games, picked up the goal on a one-timer from the left point through heavy traffic.
Whitney made it 2-1 in the opening minute of the second period as he wristed in a shot from the left wing while trailing a 3-on-2.
The Kings pulled goaltender Jamie Storr, who had 26 saves, with just under two minutes left. Columbus' Grant Marshall almost poked a loose puck into the empty net with 35 seconds remaining, but it bounced off the post. Seconds later, Sillinger sent a pass to Marshall, who tipped it to Whitney for the empty-netter with 28.8 seconds remaining.
"I was fortunate to get it, with Marshy diving and hitting the side of the net and then me getting a second chance at it," Whitney said.
He said the victory was the ideal tonic for a floundering team without confidence.
"It lifts a lot of people's spirits. It takes monkeys off the backs of guys," Whitney said. "When you get outscored 25-4 on a road trip, it's not very good. I think that can steamroll and keep going."
Notes
- Columbus' last even-strength goal was by rookie Rick Nash on Feb. 12 against San Jose.
- The Blue Jackets have won all three meetings with the Kings this season.
- Heinze was the Blue Jackets' second-leading scorer when he was traded late in the 2000-2001 season, the franchise's first.
The Associated Press News Service
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