At least the Blue Jackets didn't keep their fans up all night this time only to blow another third-period lead.

No, the outcome was delivered so quickly, so decisively, writers for Jay Leno could have penciled in Blue Jacket gags in time for his monologue. There was rich material to be mined from this odious performance.

The Los Angeles Kings scored four times in the first 16 minutes last night on the way to a 6-0 victory in Staples Center.

"That was more than tough, it was embarrassing," forward R.J. Umberger said. "We didn't play smart. If we get beat, we get beat. But we were our own worst enemies out there."

Goaltender Steve Mason's recent run of fine play ended as he allowed the first four goals, his glove hand failing him badly. Two days after playing brilliantly in a 2-1 loss at San Jose, he was shaky from the outset and pulled in favor of Mathieu Garon.

His teammates, who offered precious little support on Saturday, were no better on a night captain Rick Nash was lost to an unspecified first-period injury.

The Jackets made ill-advised pinches on defense, lost board battles, gave the Kings acres of open ice and continued a parade to the penalty box. They were outshot 26-5 through two periods and 35-11 overall, avoiding the franchise record for fewest shot by one.

If that weren't bad enough, they watched former Jacket Fredrik Modin -- dealt to the Kings last week for a seventh-round conditional pick add a goal and an assist.

Before the game, Modin actually said it was a tough decision to waive his no-trade clause with a straight face.

"You can't lose hope," interim coach Claude Noel said. "If people want to judge us on that game ... We gave up four goals in the first ... I still like our group, I still like our team.

"I thought we played as well as we could play. (The Kings) are a good team. You lose Nash and (Kristian) Huselius and you are depleted. It is what it is."

The Jackets began the game without their third-leading scorer, Huselius, because of a hand injury. Nash, the top scorer, did not return for the second period because of what the team called a lower-body injury. Nash confirmed to The Dispatch that he has been nursing a couple nagging injuries since the March 2 game against Vancouver.

He's not expected to play tonight in Anaheim.

For the Jackets, it was a dreadful performance in a season rife with them.  It was the season's second-worst loss behind the 9-1 spanking at the hands of Detroit on Nov. 11.

The Kings had six different goal scorers and Alexander Frolov contributed a goal and three assists.

"It was very bad and I would say sorry to the fans from all of us," defenseman Fedor Tyutin said. "It was totally unacceptable."

The Noel era, which began with three straight wins, has endured five consecutive losses. Since replacing Ken Hitchcock on Feb. 3, Noel had benefited from Mason's strong goaltending.

Not last night.

Mason was beaten four times on 12 shots. He didn't look comfortable on any of the goals, but the low point came as Michal Handzus made it 3-0 at 14:38. Mason waved at an innocent shot from several feet to the left of the crease. He missed the puck and Handzus popped in the rebound. It was the first of three power-play goals for the Kings.

"He just didn't have it," Noel said. "You wanted to give him a chance to get it going, but it just wasn't going to be. It was one of those nights."

The Kings scored twice on a double-minor to Nash for high sticking. The Jackets, following a trend from the third period on Saturday, took six of the game's first seven penalties. Forward Mike Blunden was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a check from behind on Rich Clune.

Tyutin was among many Jackets who had a forgettable night. He finished a minus-3 and was caught out of position several times in the first period, leading to two goals and a penalty.

"We have to be better, more resilient than that," defenseman Jan Hejda said. "We got behind and we didn't even shoot the puck. We kept passing up chances to shoot."

treed@dispatch.com