Good morning, Denver

Good morning, Mile High City, and good morning, Insiders.

There’s a big game tonight against the Colorado Avalanche, the Kings will play outdoors at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday, and the team has won five in a row at this dog days juncture of the 2014-15 NHL season. So, naturally, the LAKings.com story I was working on this morning is about… skate cuts. Please be on the lookout for that story when it’s posted on the main site later today, and accept my forgiveness for writing about a somewhat morbid subject.

The flight from Los Angeles to Denver yesterday took place without incident, as team flights usually do. I do not want to be on a team flight that is “with incident.” Here’s the landing to prove that we’re actually in Denver, as captured by guest director and Epix producer Alicia Zubikowski:

Anyone who has ever flown into Denver since Stapleton International Airport was decommissioned knows that the airport is located in the absolute middle of nowhere (and contains unecessarily provocative and frightening artwork). We’ll save the DEN conspiracy theories for another day, and instead focus on the commute from the airport into the Cherry Creek neighborhood, which took nearly 70 minutes – well better than half of the actual flight time – because traffic exists and we landed squarely during rush hour. Those Denver arteries are fierce.

Do you know what’s not fierce, but rather soothing and life sustaining? Munters units. With soft eyes, you’ll be able to spot a few of ’em.

The team is scheduled to skate at Pepsi Center at 11:30 this morning. After the skate I’ll consult with local boy Nick Shore, who scored a goal three minutes and 10 seconds into a preseason game in this building prior to the 2013-14 season. This will be his first regular season game at the Pepsi Center – and, because of a scheduling quirk, the first match-up between these Western Conference squads since Frozen Fury. Stay tuned – there’s a lot more to come on a busy game day in Denver.