Kevin Fialais writing a blog for NHL.com as the Los Angeles Kings visit Melbourne, Australia, in the NHL's first event in the Southern Hemisphere. The Kings lost to the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday and will play another preseason game against them there Sunday. The game will start at 12 a.m. ET and air on NHL Network and ESPN+ in the United States; Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ in Canada; and 9Go, 9Now, ESPN and the ESPN App in Australia.
Today, the forward writes about attending an Ausssie rules football game and playing the first NHL game in Australia.
MELBOURNE, Australia -- We went the Australian Football League Preliminary Finals at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday night. The Collingwood Magpies defeated the Greater Western Sydney Giants 58-57 in front of a crowd of 97,665 to advance to the Grand Final, the AFL's Super Bowl, and it was crazy.
Oh, yeah. It was wild. It felt like there were no rules. Guys running around, no helmets, no nothing. It was probably the coolest sport I've ever seen in my life. The fans were nuts also. On every hit, they were loving it. It was a lot of fun.
When we played at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday, it felt a little bit like the football game. It was a great atmosphere -- great atmosphere. It was a full house with a sellout crowd of 13,097. There were so many jerseys from around the NHL. The fans were loving it when guys hit each other. The ice was good. It was so much fun, and it felt like a real game, to be honest. It was a preseason game, but it felt like both teams wanted to win this one like a normal game.
Obviously, it was a loss, so tough one. But, I mean, it's a first game, so the timing and everything will settle down. I thought we did an OK job. They went up 4-1, and we came back to make it 4-3 before they scored an empty-net goal at the end. If you look at the shots and chances, I think we had a better game than them, but that's how it goes sometimes.
We're just going to go and go eat dinner and prepare for tomorrow. Simple as that. We want to play well Sunday before we head home.
