Los Angeles Kings vs. Dallas Stars

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By the middle of March the standings have stopped being a table and turned into arithmetic. Everybody in the building is doing the same sums, three or four games ahead, and that changes the sound of a room completely - the groans arrive earlier, the cheers last longer, and a harmless icing call in the second period can draw real anger. Dallas is exactly the sort of opponent you do not want at this stage: heavy, organised, difficult to play through. A six o'clock Saturday start is the most civilised slot in the week, finished in time for dinner somewhere decent downtown rather than a hurried thing beforehand. Go in March rather than April if you want the atmosphere without the price. The tension has already arrived by now; the resale market usually takes another three weeks to notice. Come late in a season rather than early in one: the hockey is the same and the room is not remotely the same, and the room is most of what you are paying for.