I have to admit, it's still very strange to still be talking about the Los Angeles Kings after the regular season and Draft Lottery. But here we are, 8 years after the Kings lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs. It's been a long, strange trip for me and Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy... mainly because we signed up for our Half Season Seats 8 years ago and are just going to see Kings playoff hockey for the first time. Dean Lombardi was brought in to change the culture of this team from a place that aging hockey players finish out their careers while living on the beach... to an young, powerful team that is built to last. Helene Elliott has an epic article in todays LA Times Sports Section (you know the Kings are in the playoffs when they make the front page of the Sports section!) about how Dean Lombardi has shaped this playoff team... but how there is still far to go. As Kings fans, we are used to losing. It's the poison in our system. We are used to bad trades, burned out prospects and laughable goaltending. But for one bright, beautiful sunny California spring day... there is hope. There is excitement. There is playoff hockey in Los Angeles.

Now, I'm not a predictions kinda guy. I tend to leave that stuff up to the experts. But I do think that on paper... these teams are pretty evenly matched. But the real battle here isn't Vancouver vs Los Angeles... it isn't USA vs Canada... it isn't Smythe Division foe vs Smythe Division foe... no... this is a battle of 2 teams... that have had a heck of a lot of jerseys during their time in the league.

Do not attempt to adjust the color of your computer monitor.

Check out what the heck I'm talking about.... after the jump!!!

During the 1988-89 NHL season, a player came to the Los Angeles Kings that would set the town on fire during the playoffs. No, I'm not talking about Wayne Gretzky, I'm talking about Christopher T. Kontos. The re-vamped Kings were entering into their first playoff series during the Gretzky era… against Wayne's former team, the Edmonton Oilers. The series went a hard-fought 7 games and the Kings rallied from being down 3-1 to take the series. But the real story of this playoff series was the emergence of Chris Kontos, who scored an amazing 8 goals in the 7 games against the Oilers... 6 of them on the Power Play, an NHL record that still stands today. The Kings would go on to be swept by the eventual Stanley Cup winning Calgary Flames in the next round, but Kontos would finish his amazing playoff run with 9 goals in 11 games. Don't believe me? Well, there is video to prove it!

I was 12 years old when Kontos went on his record playoff scoring run and I've never been able to forget it. It made such an impression on me that I even adopted Kontos' name as my nerd-hockey-blogger moniker. So imagine the excitement one day when I received an email from Chris Kontos, saying that I kept popping up in his Google Alerts... and he really liked the blog. So with the Los Angeles Kings ready to make their return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after an 8 year drought, I wanted to get the inside story of that memorable 1989 playoff series from one of the all-time Los Angeles Kings playoff performers. Check out the interview after the jump!

The Los Angeles Kings had some impressive road trips this NHL season... but none more impressive than the one my playoff tickets took to get to me today.

Calgary to Memphis to LA? 
There's gotta be better ways to save money, LA Kings.

But no matter how far they traveled... the tickets are here. And the Kings Marketing Department are quite the optimists... included are tickets to all 4 rounds of the playoffs, that's right... even the Stanley Cup Finals.

8 years in the making.

The only thing crazier than the road trip my Kings playoff tickets took is the road trip I'm about to take. That's right, The Royal Half is heading to Canada for Game 2 of the 1st round series between the Kings and Canucks. Your one-stop-source for all news Canucks, Benched Whale, will be showing me how the Canadians do hockey. I have a feeling there will be a lot less Heidi Androl and a lot more beer. Keep checking out the Whale for all the pre-series breakdowns and matchups for the upcoming series. Playoff hockey... can you feel it?

---

The awesome Flyers blog, Flyers Goal Scored By, asked me to chime in on how a former Flyer was doing for the Kings this year. He first rejected my essay on Jeremy Roenick but later he let me wax poetic about Randy Jones. You can check it out here.

For hockey fans across North America and the World... yesterday was as good as it gets. Teams were battling to get in the playoffs... the teams that were already in battled for playoff position... and even a goal scoring race came down to the wire. And to top it all off... the NHL.com Pun Machine™ went into full-on overdrive as 4 of the 5 slots on the frontpage were chock full of puns.

Normally, NHL.com only does one pun per front page. This is too much. I'm overwhelmed. Bring on the playoffs!

For Angelenos, the 101 Freeway can mean different things. It can mean a quick trip across the valley or it can mean horrible, horrible blinding traffic as you head downtown. But today, 101 points means that the Los Angeles Kings are taking the freeway up north to Vancouver!

You are going down, Benched Whale.

Kings 2, Av's 1, Playoffs: Finally Here

I'm fine with the Vancouver Canucks as the Los Angeles Kings' first round opponent. These teams have played each other well throughout the year and I think it will be a great series. And the best part of all... welcome to the playoffs Phoenix Coyotes... now go play the Detroit Red Wings and you can see what the Western Conference has been dealing with the last 10 years or so.

To celebrate the last "regular" season game for the Kings, I decided to check out one of the Kings-Sponsored Watch Parties that they've be throwing all year long. It was at a little French place in Burbank called "Hoo Ters." Check it out... after the jump!

Do not make comparisons to the Miracle on Manchester, the Frenzy on Figueroa or even the Royal Rebound. No, the Los Angeles Kings rally to tie from being down 3-0 in the 3rd period of today's game against the Edmonton Oilers does not deserve a clever nickname. It should not be memorialized in any fashion. This Kings team is definitely stumbling into the playoffs and even though they had 55 shots against the NHL's worst team (by 10 points!) the Kings struggled to find their way all game. The Oilers were 1-19-2 on the road since December 22nd, 2009. Now they are 2-19-2. Both those road wins? Against the Kings. And now even the coach of the worst team in hockey is calling the kettle black.

"The Kings have some talent and grit, but the goals we had were easy," Pat Quinn said. "So if they keep that as a standard, then they won't go far in the playoffs. They have great forwards that play well, and (Drew) Doughty and (Jack) Johnson are very talented on the defensive side, so once they have solid goaltending, they will always have a chance to win."

But you know what? Now is not the time to panic as Kings fans. Because today was the first time in 8 years that when saying goodbye to my fellow Season Ticket Holders at the last home game of the season... I could say "see ya next week." And that felt better than any sort of comeback victory could have tonight. Okay, well maybe 2 points would have felt better... but would this anecdote be as touching? I think not.

I'm feeling that someone didn't really get his money's worth with this shirt purchase.

Kings 3, Oilers 4

Check out all the photographic craziness that is Los Angeles Kings Fan Appreciation Day... after the jump!!!

What's the easiest way to track how a team has changed from the start of the season till the end? Why by advertisements, of course! Check out this Fox Sports West HD "See What Develops" ad from October.

And then on Thursday night, the newest commercial had its Hollywood debut.

If that doesn't get you excited for Fan Appreciation Day... then I don't know what will. Okay, maybe this... also seen on Fox Sports West HD.

The Royal Half is off to the Staples Center for the final Los Angeles Kings home game of the regular season. You see what I said there? " REGULAR " season. I'm looking forward to seeing JeanShorts' two favorite teams play... the Edmonton Oilers... and The Ghosts of Oilers Past. Playoff hockey is so close. So close!

Oh, I see how it goes Fox Sports. The Los Angeles Kings don't make the playoffs for 8 years and you could care less about Fox Sports West, the little regional sports network you own that broadcasts Kings hockey. But then... the Kings clinch a playoff spot... and you sprain your ankle jumping onto the bandwagon.

Tonight's broadcast began with "This is a presentation of Fox Sports."

And that's not all. No, now the big time official Fox Sports logo was creeping into the upper right hand corner... and then would dissolve into the traditional Fox Sports West HD Kings logo!

And then... the biggest front-runner move of all. They changed the microphone flags!!!

A flag is the logo around it mic. It's an industry term.

This is what Bob Miller usually has on his mic when he's hosting disco dance parties.

So what does this all mean? Is Fox Sports trying to put its stamp back onto its dozens of regional networks? Is Fox Sports looking to suck in some extra revenue during the NHL playoffs for the first time in 8 years in Los Angeles? Or is The Royal Half a total broadcasting nerd and was just looking for something to distract him from writing about the Kings stupid loss to the Phoenix Coyotes last night at Staples Center? The answers to all these questions... plus it's Wayne Simmonds Kings Spotlight Night... after the jump!!!

Presenting the 1st Annual Royal Half Screengrab Caption Contest!

That's right, after years of being entertained by the captions that are put up for the screengrabs we post here at The Royal Half... now it's YOUR turn to get into the mix. The rules are simple... put your best caption to the screengrab below in the comments and you will win a lot of 1990's Hockey Cards featuring your favorite Los Angeles Kings!

"Hey Coach Murray, so how close are you to naming Jon Bernier the new starting goalie?"

Let's hear your best and brightest in the comments.

---

I wish I could get more excited about the Los Angeles Kings dramatic come from behind 5-4 victory last night, a victory that eliminated the rival Anaheim Ducks from the Stanley Cup Playoffs... the same Playoffs that the Kings will be playing in. But I just feel that all my screaming and taunting of Ducks fans won't be heard because at least one of their ears will be plugged with a Stanley Cup Ring.

This is our year, bitches.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak had a fantastic week that included back to back shutouts. And as the Canadiens wrap up their regular season it seems that their playoff hopes will be put on Halak's shoulders and not those of early season #1 goalie, Carey Price. But Halak's best achievement of the week... was making it into the NHL.com pun machine.

Top 3 Rejected Headlines:

2) Big Halak Attack

3) The Price is Right for Halak

It seems that amazing puns are not just for the NHL.com home page. Oh no... tonight, on the Montreal Canadiens own website this beauty popped up.

So either the person who writes the puns for NHL.com is freelancing for ALL the teams or there is a serious pundemic running through the headlines of hockey right now.