Embarrassed. Out Matched. Beaten. Broken?

"Unreal. I'm just ashamed for our fans that came out to see us in Columbus. I wouldn't blame any of them for throwing their jerseys in the garbage on the way out of the building." said a frustrated Steven Stamkos.

Those strong words are unusual for the normally soft-spoken captain of the Kings, but after being completely out classed by the Blue Jackets, to the tune of a 7-0 final, he thought it was necessary to speak up. And speak up he did, the media was not allowed into the away team's dressing room for at least an extra 20 minutes after the game while the players had a "mild discussion" as one player put it. The media could hear some raised voices that didn't sound to happy with the teams play tonight.

"Obviously we're not happy with our performance tonight. Not one facet of our game looked like anything we'd been doing the previous 4 games. I'm sure everyone noticed how we came out in pregame warmups and it just snowballed from there. We weren't winning battles in our zone, our penalty kill was abysmal, we didn't create enough opportunities or shots on net and we gave up too many against us." a dejected Ryan Callahan commented.

What happened on this cold night in Columbus that's different from the previous 4 games? Well one glaring fact is this was the Kings second game away from the Staples Center so far this season. Their other regulation defeat? That one was also away from the friendly confines of LA. Is there something to this home versus away sentiment?

Not so fast says coach Guy Boucher, "Listen, I know where you're going with this line of question. It's still early in the season. We've played five of seven games at a place we're very familiar with, but I don't think we can blame this ass kicking on just being away from our home arena. Last season I believe we had more points on the road than at home so we know what it takes to win anywhere we play. This game was just a one off for us. We know these types of games are going to happen sometime during the season, the important thing for us is to burn the tape and move on. We don't need to sit around and dwell on this one and hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves. Dan had his team ready to go from the drop of the puck for the first faceoff and I didn't. That's on me."

It's also not as if this Jackets team hasn't started off on a tear so far this season. They currently sit at the top of the league with 14 points and boast two of the top ten point producers in the league in Evgeny Kuznetsov and Evander Kane. Not to mention the stellar backstop play of Mike Smith and Robin Lehner. But, even with all that the Kings felt they matched up pretty well against Columbus coming into the game.

"Yeah as a player in the EHE you have to believe you can play against the best players and teams in the league, otherwise why are you even out here playing? As Stammer and Coach already said, we're embarrassed by our performance but one game doesn't define us as a team. Before tonight we were playing pretty good hockey. We just need to bring the same routine and intensity to our away games that we have at Staples. I feel bad for Bish, we really let him get pelted with shots and didn't help him out much." commented forward, Johnny Gaudreau.

Is this an aberration in the 2018-2019 Kings' season or will this become the norm? For Kings fans, we hope it's a one off but we'll know a bit more in just a couple days as the Kings faceoff in Toronto against a dangerous Maple Leafs team who beat their last opponent 6-2.