Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I apologize if this is a little on the light side: I freaking hate back-to-back games on the west coast. At least I have a reliable tune for the occasion:

Whisky In the Jar / Thin Lizzy

The Enemy: The Kings were the popular pick to be Cup contenders back before the season started. Nowadays, they are in 4th place, but only 5 points above the 10th place team. Even making the playoffs is far from a sure thing for them. So ... every game counts for these guys. To help things along, they made possibly the biggest splash at the trade deadline, picking up Dustin Penner from Edmonton. This seems to be already paying dividends, as they've swept a 4-game road trip for the first time in franchise history. So, while the Blues have played just last night, and are trying to shake a malaise and develop some real chemistry with all of the AHLers filling in for injuries, the Kings are confident, streaking, and rested from their last game on Tuesday. They're mostly healthy, and they've just gotten an infusion of talent. Great. Stupendous.

The Kings have a solid goaltending tandem in Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier. Quick's numbers are 2.19/ .920, and Bernier has posted 2.57/ .910. Either one will provide a challenge to St Louis. They are also rolling 3 lines of scoring talent, including the team-leading Anze Kopitar (72 pts).

Further Reading:

Jewels From The Crown

Blues vs Kings coverage

Tonight's game starts even later, 9:30 St Louis time. The broadcasts are the same as usual; FSMW for TV and KMOX 1120AM for the radio. Until then, this is your pregame warm-up / tailgate. Gather here, start continue the drinking, speculate wildly about the sale of the Blues, and check out the trailer for one of my all-time favorite Irish movies :

THE COMMITMENTS - HQ Trailer ( 1991 ) (via WorleyClarence)

LGB!

-CrossCheckRaise