2011-12 Hockey Road Trip: Game Seven - Los Angeles vs. Calgary

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

7.30pm; January 19 2012

Calgary def. Los Angeles 2-1 (SO)

After six games, finally, we saw a fight. And we saw a shoot-out, too. Unfortunately, it didn't go the way anyone who wore the black and silver of the Los Angeles Kings wanted to see.

It was another beautiful day in Los Angeles - is there any other sort? - and after a fantastic day at Disneyland, we drove back from Anaheim and into downtown LA, to the Staples Centre for the Kings match-up against the visiting Calgary Flames. I've seen more Canadian teams on this trip than ever before, and seeing Calgary means a chance to watch their great captain, a legend of the game, Jarome Iginla do his thing. Everyone forgets that Iginla had the primary assist on Sidney Crosby's Olympic gold medal-winning goal in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Before and since, Iginla has really carried the Flames team, making them better than they are.

We had excellent seats, six rows back from the ice, just off centre, looking across the ice to the benches. There were a lot of Flames fans in the house, and the game was a spirited one from the beginning. I think there were many more big hits in tonight's contest than in nearly all of the previous six that we've seen this trip. For whatever reason, guys were going in big. It's a real pleasure to watch guys like Penner and Doughty and Johnson laying giant hits. New Kings coach Daryl Sutter really has this team playing with a physical edge. So far as I'm concerned, hockey is at it's best when there's a lot of hitting.

Dustin Brown opened the scoring and the Kings played with a 1-0 lead until the back end of a Flames powerplay when Iginla had an open look and rocketed a shot into the net. You can't give a guy with that much talent so much open ice. Nine times out of ten, he's going to bury the puck. The game stayed tied at 1-1 through the end of regulation and into overtime, and it was still tied after the extra five minutes. That means shoot-out, one of the most exciting moments in hockey. Goalies hate it, most coaches hate it, but as a fan, it's great.

Justin Williams scored the first goal for the Kings, but Miikka Kiprusoff had enough after that, stoning Jack Johnson - who had a second tap at the puck to score, which is not allowed under the rules of the shoot-out - and then Mike Richards, thus winning the game. On the other side, Mike Cammalleri and Olli Jokinen scored for Calgary, giving them the 2-1 lead in a contest that, for the most part, was dominated by the Kings, yet it was the Flames who left LA with two points.

Two more games on our 2011-12 Hockey Road Trip and they both come on Saturday, Super Saturday. We'll watch the Anaheim Ducks vs. Ottawa Senators at Honda Centre in Anaheim at 1.00pm and then drive back to Los Angeles for the Kings vs. Colorado Avalanche at 7.30pm. It's a BIG day of hockey. Then that's it; back home to Australia and into another live hockey drought!