The Columbus Blue Jackets were ready to play the Kings last night. Boy, they did their research. They knew just about every which way to shut down the Kings in the neutral zone and how to put forechecking pressure to prevent the Kings from even having the confidence to break out of their zone. The most telling stat from the first period that foretold the rest of the game was the number of shots on. The Jackets had 10 and the Kings had only 8. I could tell from this stat that this was going to be a fight to the finish; the Jackets had CLEARLY come to LA ready to play.

The other telling fact from this game was the sheer number of missed calls throughout the game. Dustin Brown was getting run over almost every single shift; there were interference penalties not being called all over the place; trips, slashes, etc not called. It got down to me being surprised when the refs arms would go up in the air and thinking, "Ok, you're gonna call something now?"

As you can tell, I'm not really in the mood to write about this game. The new year is upon us and my mind is in other places. The Kings don't play again until this Saturday when the Philadelphia Flyers come to Staples, which I'm super excited for. I'll probably post again before that game so check back when you have a free moment!