CANUCKS		KINGS
	AT

Had the Canucks (Garrison and Edler) not had collective brain farts on the first 2 Sharks goals on Sunday night their fate may have been different. No matter. I know these players talk about one at a time and they don't look too far ahead. But they can say all they want. 24 hours ahead of the puck drop for the Sharks game the Canucks knew they would be facing the team that did this to them last April:

And this, along the way:

There was a lot of (awesome) rough stuff in the Canucks-Sharks game. The same could happen in this one. Not much love here.

Personally, I don't have a lot of hate for L.A. They beat the Canucks because the Canucks were already beating themselves for weeks prior to that series. But I still want the Canucks to beat them down in this one.

I would like to congratulate the Kings on their Stanley Cup win, however. I was quite impressed with their domination throughout their run to the Cup. Well done! Dustin Brown is a jackass motherf***er, but he is a player I would want on my team any day of the week.

A lot of people in the MSM are predicting a possible repeat by the Kings. Well the Kings' start to the season may be making those prognosticators feel a tad uneasy. The Kings lost 3 straight games to open their season and finally won their first game on Saturday night. Look at the team stats above. The Kings are in the NHL basement with their goal-scoring, power play, and shot blocking. Stanley Cup hangover? I think that is a part of it. Sure, they had a long layoff thanks to the lockout, but Canucks players know that it's a hell of a crazy several weeks of mental and physical sacrifice to get to the Finals. It's hard to regain that intensity the following season.

PROJECTED ROSTERS

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 217

Born: Apr 04, 1979

Sedin - Sedin - Kassian

Higgins - Burrows - Hansen

Raymond - Schroeder - Weise

Lapierre - Malhotra - Volpatti

Bieksa - Hamhuis

Edler - Garrison

Ballard - Tanev

Jonathan Quick

#32 / Goalie / Los Angeles Kings

Height: 6-1

Weight: 212

Born: Jan 21, 1986

Williams - Kopitar - Brown

Clifford - Richards - Carter

King - Stoll - Lewis

Gagner - Fraser - Nolan

Scuderi - Doughty

Martinez - Voynov

Davis Drewiske - Jake Muzzin

TRENDS

• Canucks are 23-9 in their last 32 games playing on 0 days rest.
• Canucks are 6-13 in their last 19 games following a loss of 3 or more goals.
• Canucks are 3-7 in their last 10 overall.
• Canucks are 3-7 in their last 10 vs. Western Conference.
• Canucks are 2-6 in their last 8 vs. Pacific.
• Canucks are 1-4 in their last 5 vs. a team with a losing record.
• Kings are 4-0 in their last 4 Monday games.
• Kings are 9-2 in their last 11 games playing on 1 days rest.
• Kings are 24-6 in their last 30 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Kings are 16-5 in their last 21 when their opponent scores 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Kings are 20-7 in their last 27 games following a win.
• Covers.com I love you.

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARDS LEADERBOARD

raincity: 3

andrew21nz: 2

Meat Mayos: 2

westy99: 2

beardstache: 1

KYCanuck: 1

marcness52: 1

radepalma: 1

Thursday: 1

Vancouverguy: 1

VIDEO

Jonathan Quick delivers a masterful drunken speech at the Kings' Stanley Cup celebration:

John Cena..LA Kings goalie:

Wayne Gretzky scored his first NHL goal against the Vancouver Canucks. Guess who he scored his 500th career goal against?

As an Oiler, yes. As a member of the Kings he:

BEAUTY!

The title of this preview post has been brought to you by Ministry:

Bonus music vid: Lance Armstrong does Radiohead's "Creep":

GO CANUCKS GO!