With the Kings failing to seal their own destiny last night with a collapse against Winnipeg, it fell to the Washington Capitals to earn the Kings a division title.
Alas, the Anaheim Ducks handled the Caps to claim yet another division title.
With the Ducks winning, the Kings fall to second place in the Pacific division. While they maintain home ice advantage for the first round, they now face a familiar foe in the first round.
The Kings will square off against the San Jose Sharks for the third time in as many playoff appearances over the past four years. The Kings played the Sharks in both 2012-13 and 2013-14, winning both series in seven games. Probably no fan of either team forgets the 2013-14 series in which the Sharks held a 3-0 game advantage over the eventual champions before squandering it in spectacular fashion. The teams also met in 2010-11, where an Anze Kopitar-less LA Kings team lost in the conference quarter-finals two games to four. Head coach Peter DeBoer is also familiar with the Los Angeles Kings, having seen his New Jersey Devils fall to the Kings en route to their first ever championship back in 2011-12.
While losing the division banner and falling to second place may sting Kings fans, this may not, however, be the worst thing in the world.
The Nashville Predators seem to be on the upswing, and the Kings twitterverse seems content in taking on the Sharks for a third consecutive playoffs. (Consecutive, seeing that neither team made the 2014-15 post-season). The prevailing thought seems to be that the deeper more mobile Predators team will cause larger issues against Los Angeles, despite the Kings holding a 2-1-0 season series advantage. The Sharks are 3-1-1 this year against Los Angeles.
The differences were discussed a little more at length in our last "Would you rather" piece on the Predators and the Sharks, check it out right here.. Furthermore, a more detailed breakdown will be available in the coming days before the series gets underway on Thursday at Staples Center.
Here is the schedule per Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider (Source)
Thursday, April 14, 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Los AngelesSaturday, April 16, 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Los Angeles
Monday, April 18, 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose
Wednesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose
*Friday, April 22, TBD San Jose at Los Angeles
*Sunday, April 24, TBD Los Angeles at San Jose
*Tuesday, April 26, TBD San Jose at Los Angeles
*if necessary
And with that, it is set.
It will be Kings Sharks in the first round. Will it go seven again? Are the Kings fans worried with the recent slide? Are Sharks fans worried about the perceived voodoo that remains from the "It was 3-0" series? All questions will be answered as the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs gets under way this week.
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