Blues At Kings Morning(ish) Open Thread: West Coast Road Trip

Your morning open thread is more of a late morning/early afternoon thread, and that's ok. You guys needed to sleep in today to conserve energy for a super late (9:30 Central) start time.

The Blues should be well-rested,as they haven't played since Saturday's 4-1 defeat of the Calgary Flames. That game was easy - it was on home ice, it was against a team that isn't ...  I'm sorry to knock another team, but they're not very good. The Kings are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Their core from the last two Cup wins is basically intact.

Last season, the Kings took two of three from the Blues. Having Berglund back skating on the top line will help the Blues, and this isn't the same team that the Kings manhandled last season. They're faster, and the new additions seem to be a little more skilled with the puck.

Coach Ken Hitchcock knows tonight's game isn't about LA though, and told the Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford as much. The Kings just plowed through Edmonton 6-1. They're pretty good. The Blues need to measure themselves against them.

"Los Angeles is ... they're who they are," Hitchcock said. "They play pretty much the same way all the time. Everybody talks about measuring stick and all this, that's not relevant for me. The measuring stick is ourselves — it's us against the competition. Every game is a measuring stick on how we perform.

"Both teams, us and Los Angeles, we just roll the lines. Like we play four lines and we just play. The test isn't for us, Los Angeles. The test is for us, ourselves. Keep moving our game forward, keep getting better."

This is your morning-ish open thread. Check back for some goodies, like our first Road Music of the year. The GDT is a late one tonight, so bide your time and eat some Tums while watching baseball. Maybe the Blues'll put us in a better mood after the Cards game. While you're killing time before both games, head over to Jewels From The Crown and say hello.