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The Kings are playing in Edmonton this weekend with a chance to sweep the Oilers and win their first playoff series since their Stanley Cup championship run in 2014.
Hopefully the Kings didn’t forget any of the essentials while packing for such a big trip.
“Pack your harmonicas,” the Kings’ X account posted following the team’s 6-2 win over the Oilers on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena. “We’re taking this show on the road.”
That’s right, harmonicas. Just two games into the 2025 playoffs, the free-reed musical instrument has become the Kings’ unofficial postseason good luck charm — thanks to some memorable pregame performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” played by a group representing the Koreatown Senior and Community Center.
The Kings hold a 2-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers after Wednesday’s 6-2 victory at Crypto.com Arena and Andrei Kuzmenko, acquired at the trade deadline, has been key.
Located about 2½ miles west of the Kings’ home arena, the center offers 47 programs attended by about 1,500 people each week, according to public relations manager Gloria Y. Kim. A harmonica class was introduced seven years ago, and the group started practicing the U.S. national anthem in 2021.
On June 7, 2023, several class members played the anthem to start a Los Angeles City Council meeting at City Hall.
“That day, we received a standing ovation from LA City Councilmembers and over 100 attendees, which gave us great confidence,” Kim told The Times in an email Thursday.
In January, Kim said, the center was contacted by the Kings, who were making plans for their K-Town Night to be held March 23 when the team hosted the Boston Bruins. Kwanil Park, the center’s executive director, suggested that the harmonica group reprise its performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.
The Kings liked the idea, Kim said. So 13 women and one man from the harmonica class, dressed in traditional Korean hanbok, appeared at the game and played the anthem “to an overwhelmingly positive response.”
“Trot” is a Korean music genre that has been around for decades. But in recent years, it has exploded in popularity in Southern California. The biggest fans? Immigrant seniors.
The harmonica class was invited back for Game 1 against the Oilers on Monday, Kim said. This time the group was composed entirely of women, again dressed in their traditional garb.
“It was a truly moving moment when the crowd sang the national anthem along with our harmonica performance,” Kim said.
After the Kings’ wild 6-5 win that night, the team’s X account posted a group of photos from the game with the caption, “The power of the harmonicas.”
That led to Wednesday’s anthem performance by the harmonica group, this time wearing Kings jerseys. After the win, the team’s X account declared, “The HarmoniKings are 2-0.”
The Kings have a small army of behind-the-scenes specialists, including a so-called fight coach, that have played important roles in the team’s success.
The series moves to Edmonton for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday, but the Kings will be back home at some point this postseason — either for possible Games 5 and 7 against the Oilers or in the next round and possibly beyond. Does that mean that local hockey fans haven’t seen the last of the Koreatown senior center players as part of the pregame festivities?
“We are currently discussing it with the L.A. Kings,” Kim said.
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