GRAMMY Road Trip: Los Angeles Kings

This is the second part of a three part series breakdown, with this part focusing on the Los Angeles Kings’ upcoming road trip to the East Coast.
Every February, the GRAMMYs wreck havoc at Staples Center, displacing the arena’s host and two tenants for a couple of weeks. Last year, it was extrapolated with the inclusion of the NBA All-Star Game, as it sent the Kings on a 10-game road trip from Los Angeles, across the country to Long Island and ending in Anaheim. This year, the Kings get an easier go of it, but it still bears a rough couple of weeks for the Lakers, Clippers and Kings as all three take 6-game east coast trips.
For the Kings, they’ll hit the road tonight, after stunning the Columbus Blue Jackets on Drew Doughty’s disputed buzzer beater goal on Wednesday night. Here’s their schedule over the next couple weeks, along with a few notes:
Feb. 3 at St. Louis
Feb. 4 at Carolina
Feb. 7 at Tampa Bay
Feb. 9 at Florida
Feb. 11 at New York Islanders
Feb. 12 at Dallas
- The Kings’ went 6-1-3 and last year’s GRAMMY Trip and parlayed that success into making a push towards the playoffs.
- Only two opponents, the St. Louis Blues and the Florida Panthers are currently in a playoff spot, but the Kings have struggled against the Islanders numerous times in the past.
- As Rich Hammond points out, while the Kings play 20 of their final 31 on the road and six coming in the GRAMMY Trip, only six of those 31 games overall, are against current Western Conference playoff teams.
- Last time the Kings hosted Dallas, Brenden Morrow delivered a rough hit to Anze Kopitar, and there’s likely to be plenty of honest bodies thrown around when the Kings visit Dallas on Abe Lincoln’s Birthday.
- In 2010, the Kings had an early GRAMMY Trip due along with the Olympic Break. The swept a 5-game road trip for the first time franchise history. The trip was most notable for a 3-2 shutout victory by Jonathan Quick over Tim Thomas in Boston. Also on the trip, the Kings won games in regulation at Detroit, Toronto, Columbus and New Jersey.
- In 2009, the Kings went 4-1-1, with wins at Ottawa, Washington, New Jersey, and Madison Square Garden over the Rangers.
- In 2008, the Kings went on an 8-game trip, going 4-3-1. The Kings beat the soon to be Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings, despite losing to the Penguins and Devils and falling in overtime to the Flyers. Alexandre Frolov was the Kings’ top player on the trip, as he tabulated 10 points, including four goals.
- In 2007, the Kings had an interesting schedule that saw them host them take the Western Canada trip, only to return to Staples for a game with Chicago, then taking the 5-game GRAMMY Trip. As a whole, the Kings went 3-3-3 in the 9-game stretch, but 2-1-2 on the GRAMMY portion.
- In 2006, the Olympics again threw a hex in the GRAMMY Trip, but the Kings went 0-2-2 on a 4-game road trip to Anaheim, Phoenix, Minnesota and Columbus.
- Since 2009, the Kings 15-2-4 on the GRAMMY Trip.
- Overall since the lockout, the Kings are 21-8-9 on the GRAMMY Trip.