Once again, the Kings will be opening a playoff series on the road. This opponent, the St. Louis Blues, were arguably the NHL’s best home team this season. The Blues had the most home points (65) of any team and had 30 home wins, second only to the Detroit Red Wings (31). It’s been a weird playoff run thus far, given that, entering today, the road team had a 26-19 record in first-round games.
In the four Western Conference first-round series, the road team went 14-7, but it’s fair to say that Darryl Sutter doesn’t put much stock in the idea that a road team might have an advantage.
SUTTER: “As you go along, that’s all B.S., to be quite honest. I know from experience. The less travel you have, you want to be in your own building and you want to be in your own bed. That does have a big psychological difference for a player. It’s very simple. I’d rather have players getting treated in our treatment centers, and not in a hotel and not on an airplane, and getting practice in your own building. We’ve talked about it enough. You want to play a deciding game in your building, always.”
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