2011-12 Hockey Road Trip: Game Nine - Los Angeles vs. Colorado

Los Angeles vs. Colorado
Staples Centre; Los Angeles, California

7.30pm; January 21 2012

Colorado def. Los Angeles 3-1

This was it. The ninth of nine games.

I don't know, but maybe the Los Angeles Kings might want to call me up and ask if perhaps I could find another LA sports team to watch when I'm in Southern California. On Thursday night they lost in a shoot-out and tonight, in as insipid a performance as I've seen in a while, they didn't even get that far, giving up weakly, a 3-1 decision. The final score was probably flattering the Kings, who couldn't get much going on the night of goalie Jonathan Quick's birthday.

Tonight's shut-down performance by the Avs was strangely reminiscent of two weeks prior, when we saw the same team - Stastny, Landeskog, Duchene - in the United Centre against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Avalanche completely stifled the 'Hawks that night, giving Semyon Varlamov the shut-out, and tonight was a similar effort against the Kings. 

Perhaps the highlight of the night was seeing Quick, obviously frustrated because he wasn't going to win the game on his birthday and because not many of his team-mates bothered to turn up to help try and deliver a win as a birthday present - 28 saves basically kept the Kings in the game for much of it - was whistled for slashing late in the game. I mean, he lashed out, swatting that stick at a passing Avalanche player and connected pretty solidly. That was after slamming his stick on the goal after the last goal, the Power Play marker that basically ended the game at 3-1.

So that's it, the ninth of nine games...and only a plane ride home to Australia left to come. I have a feeling that it's going to be far to long before I'm back in an NHL arena. There's nothing like this great game experienced loved, where you can near the crack of a stick-to-stick pass and the rumble of a guy getting checked into the glass, or a definite ping as a puck blasts off the goal post. It's a shame that I love a sport that's so far away. But coming back for a few games every year or so makes it more special!

The National Hockey League is in a good place at the moment. The games are exciting, the crowds are up, and there's a nice buzz about the sport all around. Aside from continued concussion awareness, I hope not too much changes in the future.

It's been a blast!