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Mason Marchment scored two power-play goals, Kirill Marchenko had one, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Kings 3-1 on Monday night.

Jet Greaves made 23 saves and Damon Severson had two assists as Columbus snapped a four-game road losing streak.

Andrei Kuzmenko scored and Anton Forsberg made 27 saves as the Kings were held to fewer than three goals for the sixth straight game.

Columbus was without defenseman Zach Werenski, who is day to day with a lower body injury sustained blocking a shot against the Ducks on Saturday. Werenski leads the Blue Jackets in goals, assists and points, and his 14 goals are tied with Washington’s Jakob Chychrun for most in the NHL by a defenseman.

However, newcomer Marchment made up for it, scoring twice in the first period, giving him three goals in two games since being acquired from Seattle on Friday. He opened the scoring 4:07 into the game with a wrist shot off Forsberg’s blocker, before making it 2-0 with 23.5 seconds remaining in the first period when Boone Jenner’s shot took a double deflection and went in off Marchment’s shoulder.

Kuzmenko got the Kings on the scoreboard with 1:19 remaining in the second, but Marchenko added a third power-play tally for the Blue Jackets with 5:46 remaining in the third. The three goals with the man-advantage were a season high, and it was the third time the Blue Jackets had multiple power-play goals.

The Kings were playing for the first time since trading third-line center Phillip Danault to Montreal on Friday, but newly promoted bottom six centers Alex Turcotte and Samuel Helenius struggled to make a consistent impact with frequent penalties creating a choppy game flow.

Up next for the Kings: vs. Seattle at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.

Lakers guard Marcus Smart has been fined $35,000 for making an obscene gesture toward a game official during halftime of the game Thursday against the Utah Jazz, the NBA announced Saturday.

Smart was assessed a technical foul for his action as walked off the court for intermission after exchanging words with an official.

The Lakers pulled out a 143-135 victory in Salt Lake City when the 31-year-old defensive specialist scored nine of his 17 points by making three of four three-point shots in the fourth quarter.

Smart, who is averaging 10.6 points, 2.9 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 17 games this season, will again be in the starting lineup Saturday night in place of injured Austin Reaves when the Lakers take on the Clippers at Intuit Dome.

Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist and the Dallas Stars beat the Ducks 8-3 on Friday night for their third straight win.

Roope Hintz and Thomas Harley each had a goal and an assist, and Oskar Bäck, Sam Steel, Ilya Lybushkin and Adam Erne also scored for the Stars. who are an NHL-best 13-2-4 on the road. Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen each had two assists, and Casey DeSmith had 23 saves.

Ryan Poehling, Beckett Sennecke and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks, who have lost four of five. Lukas Dostal gave up four goals on seven shots before he was pulled with 5:41 left in the first period. Petr Mrazek came on and stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Stars’ eight-goal output tied a season high, matching their 8-3 win at Edmonton on Nov. 25, and was the most the Ducks have given up this season.

Bäck gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal 2:37 into the game after the Ducks turned the puck over behind their net.

Poehling tied it 55 seconds later, scoring in close on the rebound of a point shot by Radko Gudas.

Hintz put Dallas back ahead at 4:42, getting a pass from Robertson in the slot, sliding backward and firing a shot past Dostal for his 11th.

Steel pushed the Stars’ lead to 3-1 with 7:19 left in the first, scoring past Dostal while crashing into the net and dislodging it. The goal was confirmed after a review.

Harley made it a three-goal lead 1:38 later as he got a pass from Rantanen and scored from the right circle.

Robertson scored in front on a power play with 8:50 remaining in the second, and then put a backhander past Mrazek from the right circle four minutes later to make it 6-1. It gave Robertson a team-leading 22 goals.

Erne made it a six-goal lead with 1:30 left in the middle period.

After Sennecke pulled the Ducks back within five 1:01 into the third, Lybushkin got his first of the season 41 seconds later to extend the Stars’ lead to 8-2. Granlund capped the scoring with 5:38 remaining.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Adam Fantilli scored with 1:28 left in overtime to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4–3 win over the Ducks on Tuesday night, breaking a five-game losing streak.

Zach Werenski scored twice and added an assist in his 600th NHL game, Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Kent Johnson added two assists. Jet Greaves stopped 24 shots for his first win since Nov. 20.

Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist, Ryan Strome and Jackson LaCombe also scored goals, and Ryan Poehling recorded two assists for the Ducks. Ville Husso made 24 saves as the Ducks dropped three games on their five-city trip.

Werenski gave Columbus an early lead at 8:21 of the first period, burying a feed from Jenner to extend his home point streak to 11 games.

Strome pulled the Ducks even with a wrister from the crease at 3:35 of the second period, but Columbus responded with two goals in a 43-second span. Werenski put the Blue Jackets back on top before Jenner backhanded in the rebound of an Ivan Provorov shot just 19 seconds later to make it 3–1.

After Granlund pulled the Ducks within a goal at 5:29, LaCombe tied the score with 3:16 left in the third. Fantilli then ended it in overtime with a wrister from the right circle.

The win was Columbus’ first over the Ducks in Nationwide Arena since Dec. 1, 2017.

It was a struggle all the way, but USC men’s basketball continued its hot start with a 68-61 nonconference victory over Washington State on Sunday at Galen Center.

The Trojans (10-1) led by three with five minutes remaining, but outscored the visitors 13-9 down the stretch to notch their second straight win.

Jacob Cofie led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds and Chad Baker-Mazara added 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. Ezra Ausar had 13 points and was nine of 11 from the free-throw line.

Rihards Vavers led the Cougars (3-8) with 13 points.

NEWARK, N.J. — Stefan Noesen, Paul Cotter and Cody Glass each scored to help the New Jersey Devils beat the Ducks 4-1 on Saturday and snap a five-game home losing streak.

New Jersey started the season 9-0-1 on its home ice before losing five straight at the Prudential Center. The Devils’ third line of Cotter, Juho Lammikko and Noesen combined for five points (two goals, three assists).

Troy Terry scored his 10th goal for the Ducks and third in as many games on a breakaway in the first period on an assist from Leo Carlsson for a 1-0 lead. Noesen tied it later in the period with his first goal in 22 games.

Cotter scored in his third straight game, giving New Jersey a 2-1 lead at the 5:52 mark of the second period, assisted by Lammikko and Noesen.
Glass increased the lead to 3-1 late in the period with assists from from Ondrej Palat and Colton White. Connor Brown scored on an empty net late in the game for his seventh goal.

Jake Allen stopped 30 shots for New Jersey for his first win since Nov. 28. Allen had lost three straight.

Lukas Dostal had 18 saves for the Ducks, who failed to convert on four power-play opportunities.

The Devils were without Timo Meier, their top goal-scorer who missed his second straight game because of a family health matter. “We will give him all the time he needs,” coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The Ducks were playing their third game in five nights as part of a five-game road trip.

Up next

Ducks: Visit the New York Rangers on Monday night. Devils: Host Vancouver on Sunday.

NEW YORK — Anders Lee scored twice and had two assists, and David Rittich made 31 saves as the New York Islanders beat the Ducks 5-2 on Thursday night.

Simon Holmstrom had a goal and two assists and defensemen Travis Mitchell and Ryan Pulock each scored as the Islanders won for the fifth time in six games.

Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry scored for the Ducks, who had their three-game winning streak ended.

Islanders leading scorer Bo Horvat left about seven minutes into the second with a lower-body injury after he became tangled with Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson.

The Islanders took a 3-0 lead in the opening period, starting with Mitchell’s first NHL goal. The 26-year-old was playing his seventh game following his recall from Bridgeport of the AHL.

Lee made it 2-0, beating Ducks netminder Ville Husso on the power play. The Islanders captain scored again with the man advantage late in the first, his eighth goal. Lee has 297 career goals, fifth-most in franchise history.

Carlsson rifled a shot past Rittich in the second for his team-leading 17th goal.

Terry made it 3-2 with a shorthanded goal early in the third. The Islanders pulled away when Holmstron scored his sixth and Pulock added his first.

The Islanders are 14-6-2 in their last 22 games and continued strong play against top-tier competition since losing to Washington on Nov. 30. New York has since defeated Tampa Bay twice, plus Colorado and Vegas.

Rittich improved to 7-3-1 with a sharp performance against the improved Ducks, who have 19 wins in 31 games.

Husso made 32 saves.

Up next for the Ducks: at New Jersey on Saturday.

Former Clippers point guard Chris Paul says he’s “at peace with everything” after being abruptly dismissed by the team last week.

“Stuff’s been a little crazy in the past few days — to say the least,” Paul told People magazine in an interview published Tuesday. “But honestly, I’m home. My daughter had tryouts yesterday. My nephew had a basketball game. My son has a game coming up on the 12th.”

Paul’s son, Chris Paul II, is a sophomore guard for the Campbell Hall varsity basketball team, which plays Newbury Park on Friday.

“I have never seen my son play a game in person,” the elder Paul said. “Not a middle school game, not a high school game. So I’m excited about seeing him play.”

Also on Tuesday, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue denied an ESPN report from last week that he and Paul hadn’t been on speaking terms in the weeks leading up to the team’s decision to part ways with one of its most iconic players.

“That ain’t true. We were talking,” Lue told reporters at practice. “I mean, he played. How he gonna play [if] I’m not talking to him?

“I mean, there was a stretch when we said he wasn’t gonna play, he’s gonna be out of the rotation. That was tough for him because he’s a competitor and what the game means to him and what he brings every single day. But after that it wasn’t really much.”

Paul is a 12-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist who ranks second in NBA history with 12,552 assists. He was the first player with at least 20,000 points and more than 10,000 assists.

Playing for the Clippers from 2011-17 — the team’s “Lob City” era — Paul and fellow superstar Blake Griffin led the team to six winning seasons, its first two Pacific Division titles and three playoff series victories. As a 40-year-old free agent in July, Paul signed a $3.6 million deal to return to the Clippers for his 21st, and very possibly final, NBA season.

This season, Paul averaged career lows in points (2.6), assists (3.3.) and minutes (14.3). He didn’t play at all in five consecutive games in mid-November. The Clippers, off to a disastrous 5-16 start to the season, were in Atlanta for a game against the Hawks when Paul made a surprise announcement on social media.

“Just Found Out I’m Being Sent Home,” Paul posted Dec. 3 on social media at around 3 a.m. Eastern time.

Later that morning, Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank confirmed the move.

“We are parting ways with Chris, and he will no longer be a part of the team,” Frank said in a statement. “We will work with him on the next step of his career.”

Frank indicated that the team will attempt to trade Paul, who becomes trade-eligible on Monday.

A league source not authorized to discuss the issue publicly told The Times last week that Paul had called out teammates, coaches and Frank this season. Paul apologized, but “everyone was fed up,” the source said.

Lue insisted Tuesday that his relationship with Paul wasn’t an issue.

“I had no problem with Chris,” Lue said. “The guy’s a competitor, he wants to play. You can understand that. So, you know, he was a little frustrated at first, but we got over that. … That’s my guy, my friend before he got here. So you don’t want to see that happen to anybody no matter what the circumstances are.”

Asked why the team ultimately decided the situation with Paul couldn’t be fixed, Lue responded, “You gotta ask Lawrence.”

In his interview with People, Paul didn’t offer any insight on what happened between him and the Clippers. Instead, he seems to be focused on the present — “I’m excited to be back here with my family,” Paul said — and the future.

“More than anything, I’m excited about being around,” he said, “and getting a chance to play a small role in whatever anything looks like next.”

Staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.