"Master of the understatement, Flames coach Brent Sutter issued the following comment after his team's 2-1 win Thursday over the Kings.

"We wanted to be a team that was more involved physically."

Uh, yeah.

That was quite obvious.

Every period, the Flames out-hit the Kings — 7-3, 11-5, 8-2 -- en route to a 26-10 game total. And Los Angeles, it should be noted, is one of the hittingest groups on the circuit, led by captain Dustin Brown.

But it was Brown who wore the bull's-eye Thursday.

Mark Giordano rammed him four times, the final time a real rattler. Nothing dirty, however, just punishing checks.

Giordano wasn't alone.

Fellow rearguards Robyn Regehr and Aaron Johnson and Dion Phaneuf all contributed to the bashing.

Post-game, Giordano said the assault had nothing to do with the fact that the Kings are tired (10 games in 17 days) and beat up (half a dozen regulars out of the lineup). Sure, sure.

"It wasn't so much what was going on over there," said Giordano. "We were worried about ourselves and what we were going to do. And I thought, for the most part, we were pretty solid."

The Kings, now, don't suit up again till Boxing Day.

After Thursday, they could use the break."