Can Kings leave Blackhawks cursing in Stanley Cup playoffs?

The Kings head to Chicago, the most cursed city in America .. sports-wise.

The Stanley Cup Western Conference final needs no back story, and the Chicago Blackhawks lack one, even in a city where The Natural meets the supernatural.

There is the Curse of the Billy Goat (would the Cubs please win for Steve Bartman’s sake).

There is the Curse of the Black Sox (the White Sox ended it after 86 years in 2005, so hope you bet the over).

There is the Curse of Michael Jordan (Bulls’ fans are trying to get traction with this).

Then there is the most pathetic curse in sports history that has “hovered� over the Blackhawks … well, sort of.

The Curse of Muldoon never really had much juice.

The legend: Blackhawks owner Frederic McLaughlin fired coach Pete Muldoon after the 1927 season. Muldoon did not take that well, with the story being that he responded, “Fire me, Major, and you’ll never finish first. I’ll put a curse on this team that will hoodoo it until the end of time.�

Terrifying … except the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 1934, 1938 and 1961.

OK, time to adapt and adjust. The tale became that the Blackhawks would never finish first in the division. Then they did in 1967.

OK, a little more tweaking. It meant the Blackhawks wouldn’t win the division and the Stanley Cup in the same season. Then they did in 2010.

Moral of the story: Don’t just shout something about “hoodoo� when evoking a curse. Be specific.

Or don’t believe everything you read.

Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Jim Coleman, who wrote about the Muldoon incident in 1943, reportedly later admitted that he made the whole thing up.

Time for a new mystical force. The Curse of Jeremy Roenick? Wait, the Kings broke that one by winning the Stanley Cup in 2012.

ALSO:

Kings in Chicago as Stanley Cup playoffs get serious

Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews presents a challenge for Kings

Kings goal is same as last season, but route to get there is different