Thanks to the recent call-up of Yutaka Fukufiji from Manchester, there's about five people from the Japanese media here tonight. However, Fukufiji has been assigned to Long Beach for the time being. Dan Cloutier is in the building, and gets his first start in three games tonight. When he was announced, Blunder Dan was booed lustfully by the Kings faithful.

Since Christmas time is around the corner, Staples Center is awash in the glow of the holidays. Usually illuminated blue at night, SC was bathed in green lights. Fans were walking around in Kings Santa hats, which look really weird when fans wear the old school purple and gold.

Two shots in, Dan Cloutier lets a puck trickle past him for the first Flames goal. Fans boo him unmercifully. Tony Amonte unloads a shot from the top of the crease, and it sneaks behind Cloutier.

Scott Thornton gets the whistle for for holding, and on the ensuing power play, Richie Regehr scores to put Calgary up, 2-0. The boo birds come out once again. Near the nosebleed seats closest the the press box, a lone child fan starts yelling at the fans booing Cloutier to "see if you could do better." It was loud enough to warrant a few chuckles in the press box.

During the TV timeout, Cloutier remains in the crease, just staring down and stretching. When he has makes a routine save, the fans are cheering sarcastically. There is no love lost between the L.A. fans and Blunder Dan.

First period: Flames 2, Kings 0

In the first minute of the second period, Anze Kopitar scored an unassisted goal to energize Staples Center to life. Kopitar tries to pass the puck over to Brown, who is in front of McLennan. But Calgary's Robin Regehr's stick redirects the pass into the net for the King's first tally.

Anze Nation is in full effect. At Team LA, there are many player t-shirts (including Jason LaBarbara... what the...?). But right in front when you walk in, there's a display with Kopitar #11 jerseys prominantly on display. There are several throughout the store, mostly because there's no authentic Kopitar jerseys. There's plenty of Cloutier jerseys, however.

Halfway through the period, Lubomir Visnovsky fails to clear the puck, and Jarome Iginla skates around him and in on Cloutier. Instead of shooting, Iginla decides to leave the puck for Tony Amonte, who spots Daymond Langkow open for his 12th goal of the season. The play was real bang-bang, and even though the fans groan about Cloutier letting in another goal, that was solid work by the Flames.

Calgary's defensive play has been good, really causing havoc and disrupting the Kings' flow.

However, the hard-nosed play for Jeff Cowan leads to the second Kings' goal, when Kopitar gets McLennan to commit on making a save down low, dropping to his knees, allowing Kopitar to kncok the puck over his shoulder for the goal. It is Kopitar's first two-goal performance at Staples Center. and the Kings are back within one goal.

But the celebration is short-lived as David Moss scored his first NHL career goal. Cloutier has allowed many rookies to score their first goal in the league this year.

And even though the Kings have doubled the Flames' shots this period, they remain two goals behind.

Second period: Flames 4, Kings 2

The Kings were able to sustain some offensive pressure early in the third, but the Flames defense has been stifling. Calgary has allowed the third lowest goals in the league, behind San Jose and Detroit.

When Kristian Huselius scored midway through the third, fans started to file out slowly. The holiday cheer had worn off, the hope for a Kings victory for Christmas were effectively dashed. And even though Brown did score on a Kopitar assist late in the game, the mood was more Bah Humbug than anything.

As the horn sounded to end the game, fans sort of gave a half-hearted cheer. As I was walking out of Staples Center, I spotted a young girl wearing a Kings Menorah hat. I chuckled at the site of that, because I had never seen a menorah hat. It also reminded me that Tuesday night is the fourth day of Chanukah, where five candles are lit to honor the miracle of Chanukah. The Flames lit up the Kings for five goals Tuesday night, so maybe there's a correlation.