It's been long 45 years for hockey in the City of Angels. What the Great One couldn't deliver in the 90's, these group of Kings did, winning the Stanley Cup in six games over the New Jersey Devils, in a 6-1 rout (full highlights below) last night at the Staples Center.
For Con Smythe Winner goalie Jonathan Quick, who had an awesome 1.41 goals against average in the Kings' 16-4 playoff record and 17 saves in tonight's win, and the rest of the Kings, what a run it was to win the Cup. From going through a coaching change in the middle of the season to Darryl Sutter, to barely making the playoffs, LA becomes the first 8th seed to ever win the Cup, having beaten the top three seeds in the West, in Vancouver, St. Louis, and Phoenix.
Against New Jersey in the Finals, the Kings won the first three games in the series, before dropping two headed into tonight's Game 6. After a New Jersey major penalty in the first period, which netted three LA goals, and Jeff Carter's second goal early in the second period, the fans were ready celebrate yet another championship for Los Angeles.
"You never know. You get to the dance, you never know what's going to happen," captain Dustin Brown, who became the second US-born captain to hoist the cup, said. "We calmed down after losing two. It was the first time we had done that all playoffs, and we finally got off to a good start."
For New Jersey, a great run in the playoffs, which included upsets of the top seeded Rangers and red-hot Flyers, ends just short of a fourth championship for goalie Marty Brodeur, who at age 40, turned back the clock. There just wasn't enough offense in the end, as New Jersey went just 1 for 20 on the power play in the series.
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