Playoff Road Music: 05/04 at LA Kings Game 3

"How 'bout this fucking team right here..."

While the Blues have gotten the monkey off of their collective back by beating the Kings, it's still a challenge to beat the Kings on their home ice. The Kings went undefeated at home in April, winning 7 straight home games. While they had a dismal 8-12-4 road record, they were another team altogether at home, posting a 19-4-1 record at the Staples Center. Being down 2 games will not deter them from putting up a significant challenge to the Blues.

I'm breaking from the traditional Road Music format, because there's little that you don't already know about our opponents. Here's a little story, though, that you might find interesting.

So, Wednesday night, the day after Game 1, I worked late a little bit. I decided to grab a bite and a beer at the Flying Saucer downtown, and maybe catch a little puck on TV before going home. I finally find a spot to sit, and was delighted to see that both TVs near me were both showing hockey, a different game on each. That is a rarity. The table next to me, between me and the TVs, were a group of guys all watching the game - they were all one side to see better, and they were not really cheering either game.. just watching them. A couple were in suits. Eventually the light bulb went off inside my head, and when one of them was standing nearby, I tapped him on the shoulder and asked "Is it safe to assume you all are with the Kings organization?" He smiled, and said " Yeah, that'd be a pretty safe assumption".

They had already been there for awhile, and while I was watching them watch hockey (and interact with clueless drunk Cards fans), I finished my burger. The group ran into the 6-beer-per-visit limit that the Saucer has. A few of them left, but a couple stuck around, trying to figure what to do with their last beer selection. One guy was trying to bargain with the waitress, but of course they weren't budging. I spoke up and offered to put it on my tab, so it wouldn't count, but she said that it didn't matter who's tab, but who was actually being served. The guys thanked me for the attempt, and I said "That's alright, I was just going to use that as leverage to join you guys anyway." They pulled out a chair, and I got to watch hockey with a couple of NHL scouts. The one I talked to the most was a former NHLer, Alyn McCauley. After they finished their last beer ( "What's the biggest beer that you have?" ), we walked over to Buck's place and watched some of the late game there. It was pretty cool to sit in on all of this.

One of the things I picked up on involved the Robyn Regehr / David Backes collision. They were not happy with Backes not getting up off of Regehr immediately. Their player was down, injured and bleeding, and our guy wasn't getting up off of him. I hadn't seen the video yet, and it was out of my view at the game. Upon further review, it looks like Regehr was laying on one of Backes' legs, so that was probably a big part of it right there. However, considering how they saw it, you can't blame them for thinking poorly of David Backes. Of course, their organization has Dustin Brown as their captain... so there's a lot to be said about their judgment. He's about as big a dick as they come. He's such a dick, I hear he spends his offseasons down the road in the San Fernando valley.

Anyhoo, it was a great night, and the guys were very friendly and cool to let a fanboy hang out with them for a while.

The Road Music theme for this series is "Songs by St Louis Acts In Movie Soundtracks". The first choice is a good one for reminding us how, from different perspectives, we're all a little bit guilty. From the Se7en soundtrack:

Guilty / Gravity Kills

There are several Kings players that have been held off the score sheet -thus far- but are capable of coming back in a big way. Jeff Carter was fourth in the league for goal-scoring, for crying out loud! Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards are always dangerous. Last year's Conn Smythe winner, and notorious F-Bomb dropper, Jonathan Quick is still a hell of a goalie. Despite his gaffes, he's currently riding a 1.81 GAA and .940 save percentage.

The Blogs To Follow are Jewels From The Crown and The Royal Half. Their writers also make good Twitter follows, too.

Tonight's broadcast details: Puck drops at 9:00 St Louis time. The GDT will drop ahead of that. The radio call is on KMOX 1120. The TV broadcast will be on Fox Sports Midwest locally, and NBC Sports Network nationally. There are several bars in the area that will have the game on, with no competition from local baseball. Find one.

Play your game, and don't let them play theirs. We've already beat them twice. If there's anything that we've learned from the movies it's this:

Predator (1987) - If it bleeds, we can kill it. (via bdlthrasher)

LGB!!

-CrossCheckRaise