The History of Color vs Color Kings Games
Tonight, the Kings and Ducks will take part in a Color Rush game with each team wearing their respective home jersey. All black vs All orange. It will be the 884th regular season game in LA’s franchise history not to feature a team in a white jersey. Of those games, 204 have been true “color rush” games where the entire uniform for each team is the same color. The last of these occurred 47 years ago!
As we prepare for the 2nd Color vs Color entry in the Freeway Faceoff, let’s look back at those previous colorful games.
1967 Preseason
Purple vs Green (North Stars)
Purple vs Orange (Flyers)
Before they even played their first official game, the Los Angeles Kings played in at least 2 unlikely color vs color preseason games. While every other CvC game in the early days featured one team in gold, these games had both teams in their dark, home jerseys. The Kings played the Minnesota North Stars three times and at least one of them was a Forum Blue against green match up. Unfortunately, it never happened in the regular season.
The Kings also wore their dark uniforms against the Philadelphia Flyers’ orange home uniforms. Clips from the game appeared in the team’s 50 GREATEST MOMENTS | Kings’ First Game video in 2016. However, they were erroneously cited as being from LA’s first ever game on October 14, 1967. Photos published in newspapers the following day show the Flyers in white. Also, Howie Hughes (10) did not score in that game. The only time that these teams met in preseason was on September 22 in Guelph, ON. This was the site of 3 Kings preseason games, including one against Minnesota.
1967-88
Gold vs All Colors
Purple vs Yellow/Gold (Seals, Canucks, Penguins)
Over their first 21 seasons in the NHL, the Kings only wore gold and forum blue / royal purple jerseys. As such, more than half of their games did not feature a team in white. Every road game from 1967-70 and every home game from 1970-88 was a color vs color game featuring LA in gold and the opponent in their primary color – red, orange, green, light blue, blue, navy, or black. This totaled 830 games, plus 37 playoff games.
The Kings also appeared in 48 color vs color games in which their opponents sported a yellow / gold jersey. These purple vs gold games came against the California Golden Seals (11; 1970-74), Pittsburgh Penguins (3; 1980, 1983-84), and Vancouver Canucks (34; 1978-88). The Kings and Canucks also had this happen in 3 playoff games in 1982.
1988 Preseason
Black vs Blue (Jets)
When the Kings changed their colors to black & silver in 1988, the color vs color games nearly came to an end. One of the more interesting cases of two non-white jerseys facing off occurred that preseason, though. In order to preserve their new white home jersey for their home opener, LA wore their black road uniform for the entire preseason schedule in black. In most cases, the other team just wore their white jerseys. The Winnipeg Jets opted to wear their blue jerseys instead. This odd black vs blue Color Rush meeting has not happened since. It may have happened twice as the teams met in San Diego on September 27 and at the Forum the next night.
1988-89
Black vs Yellow (Canucks)
Vancouver was the last team to wear a yellow jersey as their “light” colored option, switching back to white in 1989. For one season though, LA’s Gretzky era black jersey crossed paths with the Canucks’ yellow Skate jersey. These jerseys met 4 times, one of which was in LA.
2003-04
Gold Throwback vs Blue Throwback (Blues)
Gold Throwback vs Navy Alternate (Oilers)
It would be 15 seasons before the Kings were involved in another Color vs Color game. The Kings were one of seven teams to take part in the Vintage jersey program. They chose to bring back their 1980s design in both purple and gold. Unfortunately, they were cheap and decided not to spring for the matching helmets and pants. The gold Franken-uniform was worn in two colorful games – one throwback matchup and one of conflicting eras.
The Kings and Blues each hosted a Vintage jersey game. The game in St. Louis featured the classic gold vs blue matchup seen from 1979-84.
LA chose to wear this design for their fans at home against the Oilers. Edmonton did not wear their navy home jersey or white Heritage Classic jersey. No, instead they wore their futuristic, but very early 2000s alternate jersey.
2013-14
Stadium Series: Gray vs Orange (Ducks)
A decade after the Vintage jersey games, the Kings and Ducks faced off in the first outdoor NHL game played in California at historic Dodger Stadium. Both teams wore jerseys colors that they had never worn previously, with chrom-ified crests and cut-off stripes.
This was the last true color vs color matchup that LA had taken part in prior to tonight’s black vs orange game also against Anaheim.
2019-20
Stadium Series: Black & White vs Light Blue & Burgundy (Avalanche)
Black & White vs Red (Devils)
While I wouldn’t consider the Kings 2020 Stadium Series jersey too colorful (who would), it could be argued that the split black and white design is different enough from a traditional white jersey to make all matchups involving it to be a “color” vs color game. Taken as a whole uniform, the white gloves and socks lead me to consider it more of a white uniform. It was worn against Colorado’s equally split light blue and burgundy design for the Stadium Series game itself and a home game against New Jersey’s red home jersey.
One last item of note, the Kings missed out on an opportunity to play a color vs color game against the Carolina Hurricanes back in 2018. Carolina wore their red home jersey for many of their road games that season, including a trip to California. The Kings opted for their white jersey, but the Ducks stuck to their guns and wore their black home uniform. The contrast looks bad in photos from that game, but I have no doubt that the lack of red or orange on LA’s black jersey from the time would have paired well against Carolina in red.
