Hope

Last December, the Kings went to Nashville and got destroyed, 7-0. Cloutier was in net for the game and allowed 6 goals before spearing Scott Hartnell; it would be his last game of the year (and possibly ever) for the Kings. I was at my parent’s place for Christmas and watched the entire game. My Christmas was miserable. My brother had taped the game but I warned him not to watch because it would only upset him. He watched it anyway.

Last night’s game was amazing. The Kings chased Chris Mason, the goaltender who recorded the shutout last December, out of the game in the 2nd period. You’d like to think that the Kings will play like that every night, but around the time Derek Armstrong skated down the ice with a Nashville defender draped over him and then made a beautiful backhand pass to Raitis Fucking Ivanans, who buried it, I realized that it was just one of those games that you can’t really explain. I mean, last night I actually said, "You know who are playing really well tonight? Modry and Willsie." The Kings just came out firing and the Predators were extremely flat. But there were so many times last year where we were on the bad side of these lopsided games that it felt nice to be on the good side for a change.

Going through a season like last year, where you go into it knowing that you are not going to be competitive, was rough. It wasn’t so much the games themselves as it was that you couldn’t see how things could get better. Do I think the Kings are going to win the Stanley Cup this year? No, probably not. Do I think they can win their next game? Yeah, I do. And that’s enough.