Game No. 2: Can we get a redo on that one?

Okay so that first game didn’t go as well as anyone would’ve hoped. But that doesn’t mean this second one won’t be a better effort, right? RIGHT?

The Kings are playing the second game of an all-road back-to-back, one that extended into a shootout which they eventually won, and that might be helpful for Calgary, which has been idle since the end of the preseason.

Oh, what? They did? Really? Are you sure? Hell.

Okay so everyone on the planet who watched Thursday’s debacle would categorize it as one best left forgotten. So the good news is that tonight’s game has to be better almost by default. But it’s still not going to be easy.

One major, major, major problem Calgary had in its opening tilt was generating convincing scoring chances. In fact, they were terrible at it. And this was against a defense that allowed Tom Gilbert to gobble up 23-plus minutes of ice time. So how about this Kings group run by slam-dunk Norris candidate Drew Doughty? Or Rob Scuderi? Or Willie Mitchell? Yeah, they bottled up the Sedins and Co. last night, holding them to just 24 shots. That can’t be encouraging.

And if the Calgary defense struggled mightily against an Edmonton club with several rookies and career pluggers in the lineup, then what’re they gonna do when trying to put a saddle on Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown? Say what you want about the result Thursday, but the Kings’ lineup is considerably better than the Oilers’ and if Gilbert Brule and Shawn Horcoff can boss around Jay Bouwmeester and Robyn Regehr, then this could get bad in a hurry.

But the good news is that this is Calgary hosting LA, and the last time the Kings won in the Saddledome was December of 2005. And they can’t score too many goals in Western Canada. If history is any indicator, two goals might be enough to pick up a W.

But then again, getting two goals would increase Calgary’s season output by infinity.

So there’s that.