It wasn't until nearly six years after my first NHL game that I was able to attend my second and most recent NHL game. About a year ago, I was looking online for NHL ticket deals for the teams nearest me because I was dying to attend another NHL game. I eventually stumbled across an offer I couldn't refuse, which was Mercury Insurance's "Get a Quote, Get 2 Free LA Kings Tickets" promotion. I did what was asked of me in the promo and received my free quote and ticket offer. At that point, I only wanted the free NHL tickets, not to buy a new insurance plan. In addition, I wanted an excuse to make another trip to LA. The ticket offer allowed me to choose between two games: Monday, January 6 vs. the Blue Jackets or Wednesday, January 8 vs. the Stars. As you may have figured out from the title of this post, I chose the Wednesday game, mainly because Joe Pavelski is now a member of the Stars and this game was being nationally televised on NBCSN. You may also figure out that I selected the game based on the former Sharks players on each visiting team. I was going to root for the visiting team regardless of who it was specifically since the Kings are my least favorite team in the NHL. Luckily, I found a friend who was able to fit this game into his schedule, and things worked out perfectly. Before attending the game, my friend and I walked around Beverly Hills and did some car spotting. If you want to see some of the cars I spotted when I was in Beverly Hills that day, head over to my other blog, Carson's Car Pics: carsonscarpics.blogspot.com
I only have Sharks jerseys in my collection, so I wore my Joe Pavelski jersey to this game since he now plays for the Stars and I wanted Dallas to win. On the other hand, my friend that I went with is a Blackhawks fan and only has Blackhawks jerseys, so he wore his white Patrick Kane jersey. He was going for the Kings but didn't have a strong preference towards either team. As a result, other fans at the game looked at me and my friend weirdly and made comments, but my friend and I weren't phased at all by those fans. In fact, my friend and I weren't alone, as I saw a few other fans rep a few other teams at that game, specifically the Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, and Rangers. After the game ended, I was shocked and delighted to see at least one other fan wearing a Joe Pavelski Sharks jersey.
It was Video Game Night at Staples Center, so the classic video game theme was present throughout the game, such as in the scoreboard. A few e-sports teams were present at the game. The seats where my friend and I sat at during the game were great seats, located in the lower bowl on the Kings' end of the ice for the first and third periods. It should come as no surprise that I didn't buy any souvenirs at Staples Center because I don't collect Kings merchandise.
Now onto the game itself, which was a low-scoring affair just like my first NHL game I attended between the Sharks and Blackhawks. The Kings scored early in the first period on a goal by Anze Kopitar, with Tyler Toffoli and Alex Iafallo assisting on the play. Iafallo extended his point streak to eight games on the Kings' lone goal of the game. The Kings led 1-0 until the bottom half of the second period, where Jamie Benn and Blake Comeau would score 37 seconds apart to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. Esa Lindell assisted on both of the Stars' goals, while Tyler Seguin recorded one assist on the Jamie Benn goal and Andrew Cogliano recorded one assist on the Blake Comeau game-winner. The third period was fairly quiet as the Stars held on to win 2-1 and extend their winning streak at the time to five games.
The Stars went 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Kings went 0-for-2 on their power play opportunities. Anton Khudobin and Jonathan Quick each recorded 30 saves for the Stars and Kings respectively. Faceoffs were 31-24 in favor of the Kings, and each team laid 15 hits a piece. Kings C Blake Lizotte sustained a lower-body injury during this game and didn't return. As for the Big Pavelski, he recorded 14 minutes of ice time and was absent on the score sheet that night.
The Kings often have celebrity appearances at their games at Staples Center. As for the game I was at, the celebrity appearances consisted of rapper YG, Todd Gurley and John Johnson of the Rams, and Gavin Lux and Matt Beaty of the Dodgers (On a side note, Todd Gurley now plays for the Atlanta Falcons). My friend and I weren't sitting that far from them. During one of the intermissions, my friend and I were about to approach YG, the Rams players, and the Dodgers players but weren't able to as the security guards didn't allow any more celebrity-fan interactions to protect the celebrity guests' privacy. This was okay as my friend and I aren't huge fans of YG or any of the Rams or Dodgers players, even though I like some of YG's music.
In all, my friend and I had a blast at the Kings vs. Stars game, and he and I hope to do something like this again in the future. I'm happy this game went the way it did and that the Stars won. I was never a huge fan of the Dallas Stars or too fond of them in the past, but after watching them play in person and what I would call the "Pavelski Effect," I gained more respect for the Stars and they climbed up my favorite teams list. My trip to LA in January that consisted of Beverly Hills and the Kings vs. Stars game with my friend was easily my top highlight of this year.
Around the time this game took place, I wouldn't have imagined that the regular season would have to be cut short due to a pandemic, the Stanley Cup Playoffs would take place in August and September in a bubble format, and the Dallas Stars would end up being Stanley Cup finalists to close out the bubble playoffs.
Fun facts: Joe Pavelski was the only player to play in both NHL games I have attended so far, and Todd McLellan coached in those same NHL games I was at (he is currently the Kings' head coach). Teams based in Los Angeles are winless when I am at their games, having gone 0-9 thus far. The other eight games involving LA-based teams consisted of six games involving the Dodgers and two games involving the Lakers. Considering my Bay Area sports fandom, this is an amazing statistic.
One of my aspirations as a hockey fan is to attend at least one game involving each of the 31 (soon to be 32) NHL teams and at every NHL arena. This goal doesn't have to be accomplished in one season, but I want to accomplish it over the course of my life. As of now, I have crossed four teams and two arenas off the list. I don't know when exactly I will attend another NHL game, but I am aiming for sometime in the 2021-22 season, when the Seattle Kraken will play their inaugural season and I expect life to return to a sense of normalcy. This also depends on other factors in and out of my control, but I'll have to wait and see when an opportunity arises and plan from there.
Source: ESPN
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