Los Angeles Kings vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

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Florida sends its teams out west about once a year, and this is the one worth catching. Tampa Bay has spent the last decade as one of the most watchable clubs in the sport - fast, disciplined, structurally beautiful if you like that sort of thing, and genuinely instructive to watch live because you can see the shape they hold when the puck is nowhere near them. That does not come across on television at all. A Wednesday in early March means the trade deadline has just passed, so both rosters will have somebody in them who was playing for another club a fortnight ago and is still learning where everybody skates. That awkwardness is part of the entertainment. Go, and spend one period watching only the players without the puck. It is the fastest way to understand what the sport actually is, and it costs you nothing but your attention for twenty minutes.