Blues Will Face the Los Angeles Kings in Round 2

**A full series preview for STL vs. LA can be found here.** It’s official. The Blues will take on the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. LA, the 8th seed, bested the #1 seeded Vancouver Canucks four games to one with an OT win on Sunday night. The Blues faced the Kings four times during the course of the regular season, compiling a 1-2-1 record.

There are no easy paths to the Stanley Cup Final. For the Blues to advance beyond the second round and into the Conference Finals they will have to solve Jonathan Quick and LA’s formidable defense. The Blues will enjoy home ice advantage in their series against LA due to the fact they enter as the higher seed.

I’ll be writing up a more thorough scouting report of the series in the coming days but immediately one gets the feel that this will be a low scoring series. LA boasts one of the best in net in Jonathan Quick while St. Louis can counter with arguably the best duo between the pipes in Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak. Defensively, both teams know how to close out an opponent while both teams have also had their fair share of struggles offensively.

The biggest negative about facing the Kings for Blues fans? Sleep. A meeting with Los Angeles means more games on the West Coast and more long, sleepless nights for faithful fans. This series could easily feature some OT hockey given the nature of how both teams play the game. Plan accordingly.

**A full series preview for STL vs. LA can be found here.**