Kings center Anze Kopitar holds a Penguin at bay. Photo by by Noah Graham/NHLI via Getty Images via the Kings website.

One of the benefits of more evening trains on the subway and Blue Line (announced earlier today) is that it’s a lot easier to get home after games at Staples Center. Obviously, pro basketball is on a hiatus at the moment due to the NBA labor situation, but that doesn’t matter. We still have pro hockey, a sport in which there’s no such thing as a free throw.

The Kings offer a 10 percent discount for tickets to their games to those holding a valid Metro pass or Metro Rail ticket. The team has been to the Stanley Cup playoffs the past two seasons and will likely make a return appearance ths year thanks to a solid core team and terrific defense, a star in goalie Jonathan Quick and some key off-season acquisitions.

The game on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins was about as good a regular season hockey game as you’ll see, although the Kings lost in an overtime shootout — but really the game could have gone either way. Upcoming home games:

Nov. 8 — Nashville

Nov. 10 — Vancouver, defending Western Conference champions

Nov. 12 — Minnesota

Nov. 16 — Anaheim, boo boo boo

For the rest of the Kings schedule, check out the team’s website. When I was in the newspaper biz, I loved going to weeknight games and watching the Kings squash — I mean check — opposing players, who I imagined to be editors.