Kings and Blue Jackets: The Love Connection

Columbus Blue Jackets v Los Angeles Kings

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings have one of the most notorious (if not only) Twitter relationship between two teams in the NHL. Neither team shies away from a unique voice on Twitter, making them a perfect couple. The @LAKings are one of the most influential and powerful Twitter handles in sports. Columbus showed its social media muscle last offseason when they rallied enough digital fans to push their goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to the finals of NHL14’s cover vote.

The outright affection for one another during games garners huge engagement numbers for social media. Fans alike have joined in on the social media gag as the play along. Both teams have created the need for the “second screen” while they watch the game.

Fans circled around their iPads and cell phones during tonight’s match, the first between the two teams this season.

Here is a complete Twitter recap of the @LAKings and @BlueJacketsNHL January 21st contest:

*****Pre-game*****

Sweaty palms and butterflies were a sign for good things to come. However, confusion over eastern time, or a broken watch led to the Kings standing up the Jackets…

Back to the “serious” pre-game chatter. You know, the Game Day Previews and warmup pictures. Aren’t we all tired of “Soccer Juggling” Vines and Instagrams of a guys butt while he stretches on the ice by now? I personally don’t enjoy pre-game photos unless it’s one of those cute pictures of a junior skater next to a player. Oh, and the Kings explain the meaning of #Lumbus below.

Enter @TheRoyalHalf, the Kings’ better-half blogger. This is a unique Twitter account because the Kings allow him to post their Gameday Preview onto kings.nhl.com. Pretty witty humor, and *REALLY* knows how to get under opponents’ skin. Lots of @LAKings digital content comes from @TheRoyalHalf, like the beautiful picture of Jeff Carter below. No, the other beautiful picture of Jeff Carter below.

*****1st Period*****

Time for the real stuff. No more stat previews, story lines, behind the scenes photos, starting goalie predictions or magazine photos of Jeff Carter in a dashing blue suit. This is the real deal.

This headstone graphic got picked up by @LAKings & @FOXSportsLive among others. This is a very creative and successful instance of digital content; it made us laugh which is what social media is all about! Well, and being social.

*****2nd Period*****

The Blue Jackets enter the second period with a 2-1 lead over the Kings. The tweeting machines appeared a little quiet during the first period and intermission. This might be evidence of the old hockey saying, “both teams are feeling each other out.”

A Willie Mitchell penalty cues this:

Jackets respond to the tombstone request, after being scored on shorthanded. For the record, Jeff Carter jokes (after he scores) really sting in Columbus. Fans still haven’t forgiven his 39 game performance while wearing a Columbus jersey.

*****3rd Period*****

The Jeff Carter boo birds were still in the house late in the game. The Blue Jackets were entering the third and final period with a 4-2 lead over the Kings. The teams’ relationship appeared to be in dire straits.

Leave it to @AliLawrence (you should remember her from the pre-game photo) to patch things back up between the Kings and Jackets. Do we credit her with saving the NHL’s best team romance?

*****Post Game*****

The Blue Jackets won 5-3. Both teams were in good spirits as they took to their keyboards, quickly agreeing to meet for dinner. Lets hope the Kings don’t stand up the Jackets twice in one night.

This is the tweet all Digital Media people need to save; it’s the answer to all social media questions. Why do we do it? Does it make money? How can we engage? Well, throw in the name of some sponsors while you’re having fun and people who pay a lot of money will quickly become very happy. This is a great example of how social media sponsorship can be beneficial for a team and its sponsors. Fun right? Now, someone go get me some Papa John’s Pizza!

After the dust settles a late tweet from the Blue Jackets appears… This one is pretty good…

The teams will meet again February 6th in Los Angeles for a rematch/reunion.

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