Gameday Soundtrack: It’s Stadium Series day!

The Kings are still crap right now. There’s no other way to say it. Do-it-yourself root canals have been more inspiring. They’re one loss away from their second five-game skid, because they still can’t score goals and can’t even manage to get fired up enough to control the game for slightly more than 20 minutes.

They started out strong against the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night. The Kings scored early and outshot the Ducks 13-4. That number includes the Ducks’ two power play chances. Promise! A possible change in fortune! But then the rest of the game happened.

Reenactment of the Kings’ play for almost two periods.

It was aggravating and disappointing, but what else is new these days? At least they managed to get their possession dominance back to make this a more classic Kings loss. Thanks for that, buds. You always know just how to put the ribbon on a night.

Nevertheless, the Stadium Series game is upon us! Southern California’s outdoor hockey game will be better than all other outdoor games combined, because California is better than everywhere else. Fact. The Kings and Ducks organizations (but mostly the Kings, let’s be real) have put a lot of work into creating a distinct atmosphere for this game, including hiring people to play in sand and testing pyrotechnics. Blowing stuff up makes everything more exciting.

Please wear a light jacket, though, as temperatures may drop down to an aggressive 57 degrees. Stay safe; be brave.

The only awesome Kings news, if you’re me, is that Tyler Toffoli has returned. Darryl Sutter toyed with the emotions of Kings fans and scratched him last minute on Thursday night. Maybe racking up yet another loss will see him try to shake the lines up again and Toffoli might get some minutes. Hopefully? I do wish so sincerely.

Toffoli earned a hat trick during his brief trip back to Manchester. I hope he gets to put on one of those wretches Stadium Series jerseys, regains his scoring touch, and shows out for the Kings a little bit tonight.

Either way, it should be an excellent night for fans going to Dodgers Stadium. The win is only worth two points and bragging rights for whichever team takes the lead in this year’s Kings-Ducks regular season series, but the Kings need those two points. Since it’ll take place in LA, they’re also technically the home team. I’d rather see them own it for the clearly superior Southern California city, even if expecting the Kings to play well seems like a fool’s dream this month.

Honestly, I just vote that we all drink a lot of beer and party in the company of fellow fans and friendly rivals. In the end, the winner will be California (minus the Sharks, who win nothing, not even the chance to play outdoors). It’s a much nicer place to be than all the freezing cities across the US and Canada, and this day allows Southern California fans to continue to be glorious Noted Classless Jerks. And, really, that’s good enough. That’ll do.