"Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel was irate after Saturday's 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the Staples Center, but the vitriol wasn't directed at his players this time.

Saying he'd measured his words and bit his tongue long enough, Arniel flamed NHL officials for swallowing their whistles when it comes to penalties committed against Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash.

"I'm getting so frustrated," Arniel said. "I know I'm a young guy and a young coach in this league, but to watch Rick Nash, what he has to take night in and night out I watch other star players and the treatment they get, the calls they get.

"He gets tackled going to the net. He gets a stick across the face. No call. I don't get it. I've worked with this team about not yelling at referees, not making them part of the focus. But maybe we have to do a little more crying and complaining. The stuff Rick takes for the superstar that his is it really (honks) me off."

In the closing minute of Saturday's game, the Blue Jackets were dominating play but trailing 5-4. They were penalized for having too many men on the ice with 96 seconds remaining, but pulled goaltender Mathieu Garon for an extra skater to even up the sides.

Nash, who already had two goals in the third period, was carrying the puck hard to the net when Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell got his stick up near Nash's chin to slow his progress. As Nash fell to the ice, Mitchell's stick raked across his face and pulled him to the ground.

Highsticking, hooking or holding each could have been called, but officials Bill McCreary and Dennis LaRue did not penalize Mitchell.

Nash complained to officials, and Arniel was irate on the bench, stepping in front of players to plead his case all to no avail."