A wild, up and down game that saw Detroit manage to take the lead a couple of times while being outshot by a distinct margin ends up being decided in the skills competition. There, Avs goalie Peter Budaj redeemed himself after having a bit of a rough outing. David Jones had two goals for Colorado while Johan Franzen had two for Detroit. Former BU Terrier Brandon Yip scored the only goal of the six-round shootout putting it over the shoulder of former Maine Black Bear Jimmy Howard. Budaj stopped 24 of 28 shots in regulation and all six he saw in the shootout. Jimmy Howard had solid effort despite the loss stopping 34 out of 38 shots he faced.
It took the Kings two periods to get things going offensively, but when they did they looked impressive beating an Atlanta team that was able to mostly match up well with them. Ryan Smyth had two goals, including the empty netter, while Jarret Stoll got the game-winner. Chris Thorburn scored Atlanta’s lone goal and his line with rookie Alexander Burmistrov and Ben Eager looked solid all night. Jon Quick stopped 31 shots in the win while Chris Mason saved 32 of 34 taking the loss.
It’s tough to have the highlight of the night on the ice when the National Anthem played before the game was performed by former Guns ‘N Roses lead guitarist Slash. If nothing else, L.A. knows how to play up the fact that they are Hollywood.