This time, the lead is good to the end

The Kings took a lead into the third period Saturday and didn’t squander it, a major achievement for a team that had been overtaken in three straight games and was teetering on the brink of a full-fledged slump.

The Kings didn’t care that their 3-0 victory over Columbus wasn’t a shining example of NHL hockey. Nor did it matter that the Blue Jackets, while industrious, don’t induce fear in any opponent’s heart.

“The first period might have been one of the most boring NHL periods I’ve ever seen,” said goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who was called upon to stop only two shots in that first 20 minutes and 23 overall in earning his fourth career shutout and second this season. “You do what you have to do.”

The Kings, finishing a rare set of back-to-back games at Staples Center and playing their league-leading 18th home game, did what they needed to do.

Now 8-6-4 at home, they got a lift from LaBarbera’s unexpected start -- he had been scheduled to back up Erik Erbserg, but Coach Terry Murray changed his mind after Ersberg’s weak performance in a 5-4 shootout loss on Friday. They also got second-period goals from Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Calder and a late empty-net goal by Anze Kopitar.

Most vital of all, they got a lead and held on to it for dear life.

“I don’t know about dear life,” defenseman Matt Greene said, smiling. “But we just had to do the things we had been doing when we were successful. We had been playing not to lose, and our attitude was, ‘Now, just get out there and do it.’ ”

And so they did, mustering a solid if unexciting effort that ended an 0-2-1 slide and reminded them that it’s possible -- even desirable -- to get ahead and stay ahead and keep the drama to a minimum.

“It was extremely important,” Greene said. “I don’t know how much you could handle blowing four straight leads.”

After a dull start, the Kings broke through at 2:39 of the middle period. Patrick O’Sullivan made the play possible with a nice flip pass to Simmonds from the boards in his own zone. Simmonds skated into Columbus’ zone and used defenseman Christian Backman as a screen for a shot that beat goalie Steve Mason to his glove side, Simmonds’ first goal since the third game of the season.

O’Sullivan had a chance to extend the lead at 6:43, when he was awarded a penalty shot after being fouled from behind during a short-handed breakaway. He tried to fool Mason by nearly stopping as he approached the net, but he shot the puck over the net.

Calder made it 2-0 at 12:29 after Kopitar beat R.J. Umberger on a faceoff in the Blue Jackets’ zone and got the puck back to the left point. Kyle Quincey blasted a shot that glanced off a couple of players and was directed into the net by Calder.

Only when Kopitar scored into the empty net with 13 seconds left could the lead be called secure, based on the Kings’ recent history. Murray said he had called a meeting Saturday morning to review the third period of Friday’s loss, and his words apparently sank in.

“It’s right here,” he said tapping his temple. “It’s a mental thing. . . . I think it gets to be a mental block and you start to doubt yourself. You start to think, ‘Well, I’m playing the game not to lose right now,’ instead of going after it with the right emotion and the right kind of mind-set.”

Their approach was better Saturday. “We weren’t playing bad. We just weren’t urgent enough the last couple of games,” LaBarbera said. “We had enough meetings to remind us.”

Words can do so much. They backed those words with deeds.

“We really dug in,” O’Sullivan said. “As a team you have to figure out what it takes to bear down and put a team away, and tonight was a good example of that.”

Not a great game, but a good example of what they have to do. The next challenge is to put the two together. Then they can say they’ve made real progress.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com