The first intermission

The Jackets and Kings are locked in a 1-1 tie at the end of the first period.

The LA got the scoring underway at the 10:08 mark of the first period when captain Dustin Brown took a pass from Ryan Smyth down the middle of the ice and beat goalie Steve Mason glove side to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.

In an unrelated sidenote, the intermission entertainment tonight consist of the Donatos Future Jackets and an eight-year-old name Spencer from the Blue Team just scored on a breakaway goal with seconds to play to give his team the win.

Back to the piece...

The Jackets squared the game with just 46 seconds to go in the first period when Jason Chimera fired an absolute missile from the left slot and Kings netminder Jonathan Quick was far too slow as the puck bounced off the net and almost back to Chimera.

Only two combined goals were scored in the first period, but that number could have easily been higher. Both teams had a pair of power play chances in the opening period and neither could take advantage.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that LA was unable to score on its man-advantage opportunity. Columbus has the best penalty kill unit in the entire league.

That's not just a biased statement, either.

Entering tonight's game Columbus had killed 18/19 power plays this season that number increased to 20/21 after the pair of power plays killed off early.

The game has been chippy, too. Seemingly each stoppage in play saw a Jackets player and Kings player exchange pleasantries on the way to their respective benches.

Finally, and I'll leave you with this thought, I cannot say enough good things about the fan base here in Columbus. The place is nearly sold out, the crowd is into the game and the most impressive part of it all, they clearly understand what's going on.

This is an educated, passionate group of fans; the best in all of hockey.