Freeway Faceoff(?)

I hate that title. Freeway faceoff. What the hell does it even mean? All I know, is whoever “won the right” to name the rivalry should be shot. That is all.

Actually, we’ve got a game tonight, and it’ll be a good one I’m sure. For the first time this season, the Kings will take on rival Anaheim Ducks, and you’ve got to believe that even without Smyth, and Scuderi, the Kings will be raring to go. Not only is this game against the hated Ducks, but it’s a division game with real implications on the rest of the season. In addition, if the Kings can pull a win out of Anaheim, they’ll have made a significant statement as to the relative status of the two teams this season. There are, however, is one major I am not excited about this game.

No Bob Miller. Bob Miller might be the best play-by-play announcer in the game, and the Ducks announcers (who call the game whenever it’s played in Anaheim) are AWFUL. Like… truly horrendous. I can’t imagine a worse person in the announcing booth than Hayward. It’s so bad, I regularly watch these games on mute, and give my own color commentary to myself.

That said, I’ll still be there watching, and expecting the Kings to turn in a legit performance against that awful crosstown team. Quick will be starting in goal tonight, against Jonas Hiller, and if he’s able to build on his incredible play in the last two matches, I think we’ll be hard to beat. I’ve got a couple things worth watching:

• Is Kopitar going to show up? – He’s the leading scorer, but the last few games he’s been in a bit of a slump. Certainly losing Smyth hurt him, as losing a top line player will always hurt his linemates, but he’s got to snap out of it and take control of this game again. He’s got the skill, we’ve seen it this season. Let’s see if we see it tonight.
• Will Simmonds stay on fire? – He’s got three goals in the last three games, and is tearing things up at the moment. He’s starting to show some of that offensive spark that he demonstrated in the preseason and at the end of last season. I’m hoping he can build on it, and with any luck develop into a more consistent secondary scorer.
• A new month, and typically a bad one. The Kings haven’t had a winning month of December since the ’05-’06 season, and the past few seasons have been particularly awful (5-8-1 in ’06-’07, 4-11-1 in ’07-’08, 5-7-3 in ’08-’09) and the Kings will have to start tonight if they’re going to turn that trend around. They’re off to a great start this season, but they can ill afford a meltdown at this stage.

If you’ve got comments or thoughts on those hated birds, feel free to comment. Go Kings!