Every morning I listen to The Dan Patrick Show simulcast on FSW as I get ready for work. Naturally this week FSW aired the promos for tonight's "Freeway Faceoff" more frequently during the show . Listening to the words of the commercial, it talks about "bragging rights" and who is going to "reign supreme" (sounds Iron Chef-ish, doesn't it?) in this Southern California showdown. I'm sure going into this season, that was a great script considering how the two teams ended things against each other in last year's regular season.
And then this season happened...
Wow, do both teams suck or what? I guess you could say that the Kings suck less being in 11th place in the west with 11 points more than our second-to-last place Duckies. Yet, both teams suck so bad that they have incredible amounts of talent that can't score goals. Both teams suck so bad that they fired their coaches and hired new guys that were unemployed beforehand (48-ish hours counts). One of those new guys, Darryl Sutter, makes his debut behind the bench tonight for LA. Sutter was officially introduced as the Kings new coach on Tuesday. After a day and a half of practice and one morning skate he'll be coaching his new team in front of a home crowd. Sound familiar?
It's somewhat eerie the parallels between these two teams. While we're all hoping for a LA versus Anaheim series in the playoffs, at this point we're more likely to get a Kings versus Ducks golf tournament in early April. Enjoy the Battle of Who Sucks Less, folks.
Kings Notes: Crap. Mike Richards is being activated tonight after spending some time on the IR with a concussion. Jonathan Quick likely in net tonight. Remember when this happened?
Ducks Notes: Saku Koivu out again with an injured special purpose. Boudreau is hoping to get him back before the New Year. Not sure if that means 2012 or 2013. The worst center on the face of the planet, Andrew Cogliano, has been bumped off the second line and replaced with Nick Bonino.