Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings faceoff on NHL Opening Night live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The game can be live streamed for free here. San Jose fans can hear all of the action on 98.5 KFOX while Los Angeles fans can do the same on Fox Sports 570.
Los Angeles will hoist the Stanley Cup banner to the Staples Center roof after notching their second title in the last three years in a five-game Stanley Cup Final victory over the New York Rangers.
San Jose is out for revenge as it blew a 3-0 series lead in Round 1 against L.A. and had to watch as one of its fiercest rivals went all the way to holding up the best trophy in sports.
The Kings finished with a 46-28-8 record and 100 points for a third place spot in the division in the Pacific Division before defeating the Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks in seven games and then the Rangers in the five game set to close out their championship run.
The Sharks once again had a dominant regular season with a 51-22-9 record for 111 points and a second place finish before once again fizzling out in the postseason which has led to the team coming into the new campaign without a captain.
Joe Pavelski had a big year for San Jose last season, leading the team with 79 points while finishing third in the NHL with 41 goals. Joe Thornton was second on the team with 76 points and ranked second in the league with 65 assists while Patrick Marleau had 33 tallies and 37 helpers to rank third on the team with 70 points.
The Kings enter play with many of the key pieces to their Cup run returning, but they'll look to put together a better regular season rather than waiting for the playoffs to find their groove.
The team locked down Marian Gaborik to an extension after he was huge for them in the playoffs after being acquired in a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Anze Kopitar led the Kings with 70 points and was tied for fourth in the NHL with a plus-34 ranking in 2013-14 while Jeff Carter had 27 markers and 23 helpers for 50 points and Justin Williams found the back of the net 19 times and added 24 assists for 43 points.
The Sharks have left their No. 1 goaltending job up in the air as incumbent Antti Niemi and Alex Stalock continue to battle it out while Los Angeles will once again turn to Jonathan Quick.
Quick went 27-17-4 last season and was fifth in the NHL with a 2.07 GAA while notching a .915 save percentage and adding six shut outs to rank second in the league.
It's a Round 1 NHL Playoffs rematch when the Stanley Cup Champion Kings return home and host the division rival Sharks tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
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