One Down.

The only thing better than beating the San Jose Sharks at home???? The fish tacos I ate tonight.

Kings 6, Sharks 4, Fish Tacos A+

First things first. The Kings have opened up the Royal Room and created a really cool space where fans can hang out in between periods, watch other sporting events and eat from a different menu than the rest of Staples Center. I guess the Fox Sports bar served this purpose as well, but I like the feel of the new Royal Room much better. So tonight, Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I went for the fish tacos. And boy were they great. Oh and in other non-fish taco news, I think the Kings figured out what the problem was from opening night. Get Peter Harrold back in the line-up and get Alec Martinez out!

I'm really hoping this woman's last name is Martinez and not that
she has made the worst player jersey purchase ever.

The team that all Los Angeles Kings fans hoped would show up this season did tonight. At least for a few stretches here and there. Sure it wasn't pretty, but the Kings jumped out to 4-0 lead against the "on paper" best team in the NHL. Why are the Sharks the best team in the NHL "on paper"? Because their Power Play forward unit is the same as their first line. Forget everything about Joe Thornton or Dany Heatley... that Devin Setoguchi is an awesome player. With the offensive firepower they have on both forward and defense... the Sharks were never out of this game, even down 4-0.

Dude, this is already so much more fun than last season. Am I right?

But even though it was ugly, the Kings won. I know it's only 2 games into the season but doesn't it feel like everyone on this team has scored a point already? The true test of a team isn't how it wins or loses... but how it responds to playing poorly. And this team did respond tonight... especially Raitis Ivanans... after young pup Davis Drewiske (and recent NHL goal scorer) was leveled in the corner.

Hockeyfights.com rocks!

During the 3rd period, the Kings scoreboard celebrated Jarret Stoll for his "Hit of the Game." The best hit during this game was Ivanans' uppercut connecting with Shelley's chin. This is exactly the kind of response the Kings were missing last year. And now Ivanans has an awesome new nickname from KingsKoolAid... Rescue Leader. And with the Kings up 4-0 at the time... I only hope that it sent the message that you don't have Los Angeles to push around anymore. This team is ready to back up its talent with its fists. I mean, how tough does Rob Scuderi look?

I'm going to kill you San Jose!!! ... oh... ouch, ouch, ouch... nose bleed!

If you would have told me that after 2 games the Kings would have 9 goals... I would have been beyond happy. But if you told me that they would have also given up 10 goals in those 2 games... not so much. This is a tough team to figure out after 2 games. For all the talk of defense over the summer... it really has been non-existent. Jon Quick looks brilliant at times and downright LaBarberian at others. The Kings are also having trouble getting the puck out of their zone just below the blue line. But they are rolling 3 even lines and Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth are playing like they share a mullet. (that means they are playing well together)

Thankfully, we have 80 more games to evaluate this team. But for the month of October, this is the last game I'll be seeing in person. We decided to trade in our tickets for Columbus on the 25th for Calgary on the 7th of December. So that means for the rest of the month I'll be blogging by watching the Kings in HD on Fox Sports West... and not seeing amazing jerseys at Staples like this one:

Chris Terreri... the premiere backup goaltender of the 90s.

As always, check out our friends up north at Fear the Fin for the Sharks perspective on tonights game. Man, it feels good to beat San Jose. Almost as good as taking a leak on Rob Blake's face. What's that you say? How is that possible? Well, imagine my surprise when I went to the bathroom in between the first and second and saw this in the urinals:


Excellent work, Kings fans.