The Lesser Evil

It's that time again, Kings faithful. The Western Conference Finals! The season can now really get underway since this is the first real challenge the Kings have faced all year. It's the third consecutive season the Kings and Blackhawks have met at this late stage, and there's a good chance whoever wins this time wins the Stanley Cup again. It's a huge moment for the Kings, as they look to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions.

Admittedly, I didn't catch many Kings games lately so I am a little out of the loop with them. I figured why bother with the predictable boring rounds where they beat up on their pathetic rivals. The Los Angeles/Chicago battle is the real entertainment after all.

Wait.

What?

No.

That can't be right.

Anaheim?!

Did the Kings lose a series to them? They didn't get swept or anything, right? No? Oh thank god. That could have been embarrassing. Getting swept by lowly Anaheim would be something I don't think any franchise could recover from. Well, who did knock the Kings out? It couldn't have been San Jose. Kopitar didn't break any ankles this season.

...

A season where Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver all made the playoffs. What is this? 1996?

Hm. Nah, the Oilers and Maple Leafs finished way too high that year.

Okay, okay. The Ducks vs the Blackhawks! Anaheim vs Chicago!

Nope, it just doesn't feel the same (or natural). Ugh. This sucks. Alright, so apparently we have to hope the Tampa Bay Lightning (which is part of Florida and that's pretty gross) or the New York Rangers (who are insufferable) beat whoever wins here.

May as well skip the Finals again.

The Ducks and Blackhawks series can put some Kings fans in an awkward spot for who to hate more. Obviously, there is plenty of hatred for the Ducks as they try to be taken seriously as a franchise despite suffering from younger sibling syndrome to a lethally annoying degree. But then Chicago is actually more of a rival to L.A., and they have been trading championships off to each other regularly lately.

What about personnel? Chicago and Anaheim both have goofy looking captains that play center and complain a lot. They both have a high scoring winger that seems like a complete asshole. Both their goalies suck. Chicago's coach grabs his nutsack. Anaheim's coach is nothing but nutsack. It's a really tough call on who deserves the most loathing.

Except it's not. It's the god damn Ducks. Corey Perry's team. The team that is too scared to expose their players to "mean tweets". Chicago is just another good team the Kings have had to fight with. Do you really want to see Anaheim within reach of a championship? You can't possibly want Jer and Spade to be happy. AND DO YOU KNOW HOW OBNOXIOUS ORANGE COUNTY PEOPLE ARE? The last time the Ducks won I had to move across the country.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">dear <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LAKings?src=hash">#LAKings</a> <a href="http://t.co/WhpFR3AgaT">pic.twitter.com/WhpFR3AgaT</a></p>&mdash; Le Pac (@lexpatriate) <a href="https://twitter.com/lexpatriate/status/598701248662102016">May 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Chicago. Still hope you lose in the finals.

Prediction: Kings in seven. Wait. Shit.