Los Angeles Kings vs. Chicago Blackhawks

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A three o'clock face-off on the Saturday before Valentine's Day is either excellent planning or an accident, and either way it works. You get the whole thing done in daylight, you are out by half past five, and the evening - whatever obligation it holds - is entirely intact and you can arrive at it having already had a good day. Afternoon hockey also draws a different crowd: more families, fewer people treating the building as a bar with a game attached. Chicago brings its own travelling contingent and a century of history it is more than happy to explain to you. Make it the first half of a day rather than the whole of a night, and go into Sunday having already banked something. Parking fills earlier than you expect for an afternoon game because nobody has adjusted their habits to a daylight face-off, so leave half an hour more than instinct tells you and you will walk in relaxed.