The Kings are riding a four game win streak, and the Blue Jackets are coming in winners of three in a row. This being the 13th game of the season, how appropriate that it's on Halloween? Will tonight's game be a treat to watch, or have I been tricked into seeing a Kings' home loss, a rarity this season.

In goal for the Kings is Jason LaBarbera, coming off of being named the NHL's top star of last week. Pascal Leclaire is riding a huge wave of success, already pull ing out 4 shutouts. These two goaltenders meet for the first time.

Jack Johnson has a nice move on a Columbus forward as he tries to get the puck out. He fakes to go around the goal, then pivots the opposite way and skates past the bewildered player. He immediately passes up to Kopitar when he reaches mid-ice, and Kopitar takes it in and gets a shot on net. What a rookie.

Now about the veterans, Calder skates it up and passes to.... no one. He didn't even look where he was passing to when he flipped a backhand to the boards, resulting in a turnover in the nuetral zone.

The Kings seem one step slower tonight. Passes aren't as clean, and they are having a devil of a time clearing the zone. Visnovsky checks Boll into the corner, and seconds later, Boll returns the favor. But coming to Lubomir's defense is Ivanans, who bashed Boll after he cleared the puck. That was enough cause to give Columbus a penalty.

The Kings, aided by the excellent penalty-killing of Hanzus and O'Sullivan, kill the Ivanans penalty. But the Kings are far from getting out of the woods. The Blue Jackets are staying in the Kings zone for a long time. Modin, the former Long Beach Ice Dog, puts on some nifty moves, and is able to get the puck in front to his clamoring teammates. Finally, the Kings clear it, as Crawford, realizing the rough nature of tonight's game has Armstrong, Frolov and Cammalleri out for some strength. The line of O'Sullivan, Willsie and Nagy also playing well.

Kopitar does some fancy footwork of his own, getting Hejda to trip him up and draw a penalty. But the Blue Jackets won't go down without a fight. They are ranked number one in the NHL on killing penalties. And that's what they do this time as well.

The Kings have two long shifts from the O'Sullivan and Kopitar lines, so as they try to change on the fly, the Blue Jackets are able to collect a rebound and skate to a quick 3-on-2. And Chimera pops one over LaBarbera's glove hand for his second of the year. It was a bad angle, but a nice goal, hitting the top of the goal somehow over LaBarbera's big shoulders.

Kopitar and Cammalleri are joined by Willsie on their line, as Brown joins Calder and Handzus. Clearly, Crawford is trying to see how to get some different combinations out there to shake them up.

Going into the first intermission, L.A. has a slight advantage in shots, although it didn't seem like it. But something that does seem right: L.A. with 11 giveaways.

First period: Blue Jackets 1, Kings 0

Kopitar has a good chance to hit Cammalleri deep in the Jackets' zone, but Michael falls to the ice, and Anze's shot is stopped by Leclaire. The ice seems a little slushy.

Sergei Federov puts the puck on net, and the resulting rebound is smacked in by Gilbert Brule. It's tghe type of play that should have either been controlled by LaBarbera or his defensemen. But neither could get possession of the puck long enough to clear the puck, and the Blue Jackets are up by two goals.

Nagy's unsportsmanlike conduct gives Columbus their second power play. The Kings are able to halt the power play, thanks to the steady LaBarbera.

But Jason has a lapse of judgement, as he turns the puck over on successive possessions when he leaves the puck behind his net for his defensemen. The first time, the Kings were able to clear the zone, but the second time cost them. Chimera intercepts LaBarbera's pass, and finds Nash on the wing, who slaps one on net. The rebound goes back to Nash, and he takes another shot. LaBarbera stops the second and clears it to the side, but it goes right to Chimera, who shoots it past Jason for his second of the game. The Kings are looking sloppy tonight, and their win streak will seemingly end tonight.

The Kings are already being outshot by Blue Jackets in the second, 13-2. They just seem out of sync, as the Jackets are capitalizing our their mistakes.

But the Kings finally get on the board, when Calder pops it over Leclair's pads for a power play goal. L.A. with the man advantage when Boll is whistled for hooking. Frolov skates the puck in, but gets it poke-checked away from him, and it goes to Stuart. Stuart soots on net, and the puck bounces around in front of Leclair, who cannot control it. Clader takes several whacks at it, and finally works it in to give the Kings a glimmer of hope. Nagy gets the assist along with Stuart.

The Kings get a two-man advantage, when Malhotra is called for interference, and then 20 seconds later, Foote gets the gate for tripping Nagy. The Kings go with four forwards on the ice: Frolov, Cammalleri, Kopitar and Calder. Visnovsky is the only defenseman on the ice. The Kings sustain good pressure, but the puck just doesn't bounce their way. Visnovsky hits the post, and the power play ends.

The period ends with only 8 shots for the Kings, the majority of which came on the two man advantage. Leclair is the difference in this game, who lost his bid for another shutout in the second. But the Blue Jackets are in the driver's seat as we head for the second intermission.

Second period: Blue Jackets 3, Kings 1

Chimera gets his name on the stat sheet again, this time for a holding the stick penalty. But the Blue Jackets keep the puck in L.A.'s end. That's why they are the league's best PK unit.

The damn doorbell keeps ringing with trick-or-treaters as I'm watching this game, so the third period is a blur. The Kings have several good chances, but come up empty. Rick Nash adds an open netter to make it 4-1. L.A.'s win streak is over, and they head into the weekend with a tough home-and-home matchup with the Sharks. The Kings were able to outshoot Columbus, who haven't had a win in Los Angeles in eight games.

Pascal Leclair now has the same amount of wins as he did last season. An interesting note about Leclair: his first start in the NHL was against the Kings, And guess what the result was? A 2-0 shutout.

So, Los Angeles gets the equivalent of a Mounds bar in their trick-or-treat pail on this Halloween night.

Final score: Blue jackets 4, Kings 1