Good morning, Calgary

There’s no easing back into the NHL schedule. After an 8:00 p.m. road start, the Kings knocked off the Avalanche 6-4, drove to the outskirts of the Denver metropolitan area, boarded a two hour-plus charter flight, touched down in Calgary at roughly 2:40 a.m., and eventually settled down into the team hotel at a quarter past three this morning. The team won’t hold a morning skate in advance of tonight’s game against the Flames, though coaches and players will be available at the team hotel.

The final approach into YYC:

Should the Kings just have rented a condo somewhere between Calgary and Edmonton? Somewhere in, say, Red Deer? Los Angeles has played 60 games this season. This is the first Alberta trip. After tonight, the Kings will play a back-to-back in Edmonton and Calgary on March 9-10 before a Calgary-Edmonton back-to-back on April 9-10, the 80th and 81st games of the season.

And now, today’s Highlighted Local Artist! Broken Social Scene may be a Toronto band (and on an indefinite hiatus), but their frontwoman Lisa Lobsinger is a Calgarian. She was outstanding on the group’s most recent album, the terrific Forgiveness Rock Record.

So, don’t let the fair skies fool you; it is a cold morning in Calgary, and the temperature will be plummeting before we leave town. It’s currently 27 degrees and will drop to three degrees at 11:00 p.m. as a blast of cold air moves south from the Arctic Circle. Saturday’s high temperature in Calgary will be -13F, with the low -27F.

The view from the 10th floor: