The Columbus Blue Jackets gave their fans an early Christmas present with a dominating 3-1 victory against the L.A. Kings at Crypto.com Arena Tuesday. The win was the first on the road since Dec. 1 when the Jackets beat New Jersey. And they did it without their leading scorer, Zach Werenski, who injured his ankle Saturday.

Werenski is expected back in the lineup soon, so the question Tuesday was who would step up in his absence to lift the team’s efforts and capture a win against one of the stingiest defenses in the NHL. The first answer came from a “new” source in forward Mason Marchment, who had just been acquired from Seattle.

Marchment, who was playing in his second contest as a Blue Jacket, scored twice on power play opportunities, giving his new squad a 2-0 lead as the first period ended. He now has three goals in his start with Columbus. The corollary to that answer was Damon Severson, who has assisted on all three of Marchment’s scores.

Also stepping up was goaltender Jet Greaves. Greaves, who was back in net after getting Saturday off, stopped 23 of 24 Kings’ shots, including a good number of point blank attempts that would have changed the tenor of the action. He picked up his ninth win of the season, now with a 2.69 goals against average and a save percentage of .906.

Another reason for the road win was the play of the Blue Jackets’ special teams. All three goals were on the power play. In a game littered with penalties, Columbus had seven extra-man chances, giving them a 42.9% conversion rate, while killing all five of L.A.’s power play opportunities.

The final part of the answer was the Jackets’ team effort in the third period. Instead of seeing a 2-1 lead going into the frame disappear, they dug down and scored again without allowing the Kings to draw closer. Kirill Marchenko got back on the scoresheet with his 11th goal and the defense did its job with an exclamation point.

Columbus now gets five days off to celebrate the holiday season with their families before returning to the ice Sunday when they host the New York Islanders at Nationwide Arena. The game is scheduled to get underway at 5:00 p.m.