Road Music: 05/03 @ Los Angeles Kings

The Blues face an uphill battle, taking a 0-2 record into the Staples Center for the next two games. The first step begins tonight and Game 3. Focus on winning this one, and then worry about Game 4 later. Throughout the season, the Blues demonstrated a pretty good ability to bounce back from bad games - they usually didn't stink it up for any long stretches. Hopefully, they can right the ship and get back at the whole winning thing. If there are any positives that I can take with me into Game 3, it's that 1) the Blues are getting under the skin of the Kings players, and 2) that Jonathan Quick was getting uncomfortable in the net as the game wore on. If the Blues can pick up where they left off, that should help their cause.

The alternative is dropping a third game to the Kings - and after what I saw amongst Blues fans following Game 2, things could get pretty ugly.

I Wanna Riot / Rancid & Stubborn All-Stars

(Programming note, I've actually had a "theme" to these for the playoffs. Round 1 was One-Hit Wonders, and for Round 2 it's songs from movie soundtracks. Tonight's song is from the Beavis & Butt-Head Do America soundtrack).

The Enemy: So far, I haven't seen any line-up changes for the Kings, so we'll likely see the same group of jackasses as Games 1 and 2. Among active teams, Jonathan Quick is leading the postseason with a GAA of 1.56 and a SV% of .952 (unless you count Jake Allen's 0.00 GAA). Dustin Brown is the King's scoring leader with 4 goals and 5 assists. The Kings are currently killing penalties at a 90.9% rate, including 2 shorthanded goals in this series.

Going back to round 1, the Kings are 5-0 on the road, so they are trying to bring a little of that mojo to their home set. They'll be staying at hotels the night before games in downtown LA, and practicing at the Staples Center when possible.

Further Reading:

(an entertaining non-SBN site) The Royal Half

Jewels From The Crown

The Y! Game Preview

The NHL.com preview

Final Verse:

Once again, we face a west coast team, so a late start tonight. The puck drops at 9:00 St Louis time, and the Game Day Thread should start shortly beforehand. The broadcasts are all national now, and tonight's contest will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network (formerly VS) for TV and KMOX 1120 AM for the radio call. Until then, consider this your pregame warm-up. Gather here, get the kinks out from your pregame nap, put the coffee on, and pray to the hockey gods that the Blues win this in regulation (no OTs please). Also, in case you need to see a King slapped around to get revved up tonight, enjoy this video. Let me know in the comments below how long you watched it ...

Tyrion Slaps Joffrey For 10 Minutes To Achilles Last Stand (via WesterosTales)

LGB!!!

-CrossCheckRaise