Kings to play San Jose Sharks outdoors at 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium

The defending Stanley Cup-champion Kings will play in another Stadium Series game this coming season, when they’ll meet the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 21 at Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers.

The NHL announced on Wednesday that the Pacific Division rivals will play at 7 p.m., with a limited number of tickets available for pre-sale Thursday at 10 a.m. PDT to the teams’ season-ticket holders.

The Kings rallied from a three-games-to-none deficit against the Sharks to win their first-round Western Conference playoff series this year, then proceeded to eliminate the Ducks and 2012-13 champion Chicago Blackhawks in seven games before winning the Cup in five games against the New York Rangers.

NBC Sports Network will televise the Stadium Series game from the Santa Clara venue. The Kings fell to the Ducks, 3-0, last season in a meeting at Dodger Stadium that drew 54,049 fans.

The Sharks have played 1,738 regular-season games, none outdoors.

San Jose’s rivalry with the Kings has included 41 regular-season and playoff games since the start of the 2010-11 season, more than any other two clubs in the NHL during that span.

“The growing excitement around NHL hockey in California, the intensity of last season’s playoff series between these teams and the state-of-the-art setting at Levi’s Stadium will bring a thrilling dimension to the Kings-Sharks rivalry,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

Kings President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille said in the NHL statement, “This event is a tremendous example of how our game continues to grow and evolve in the state of California and it will bring a great deal of exposure to sports fans throughout the region.”