After shutting out the Sharks 4-0 in San Jose in Game 2, the Los Angeles Kings look to capitalize on their new-found home ice advantage. Tuesday night, the Kings return home to Staples Center, to host the Sharks in Game 3 of their first round NHL playoff series. The Kings get back Jarret Stoll, who was suspended for Game 2.
The Kings will be wearing their black jerseys for all home games throughout the NHL playoffs, and have encouraged fans to also wear black for their "Back in Black" promotion. "This is the most exciting team of the year and the perfect time for our fans to help give us the ultimate home ice advantage," said team president Luc Robitaille. However, not everyone thinks Kings fans will be a raucous crowd for Game 3.
Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News compared a hockey game at Staples Center to a Kenny G concert. Quisp, at the SB Nation blog Jewels From The Crown, took offense to that characterization:
But he's not talking about the building. He's talking about the people in the building. You. Sharks fans are more "Metallica," by which I think he means "edgy and cool" and aggressively non-pop (or at least as non-pop as you can be while still winning not quite a dozen Grammy Awards and selling about a billion dollars worth of albums). You, Kings fans, are more "Kenny G.", grotesquely vapid, slick and smooth and fake and edgeless and trite and frankly sorta effeminate.
Tonight's 7:30 p.m. PDT game will be televised on Prime Ticket and Versus.
For more news and information on the Kings, or this first-round matchup with the Sharks, be sure to read the SB Nation blog Jewels From The Crown.