LA Kings win Stanley Cup final

The Los Angeles Kings had only been to the National Hockey League finals twice before in the 45 year history of the franchise, that team was led by the icon Wayne Gretzky but lost in the finals. Over a decade later, the Kings returned to the finals and this time emerged the winner of hockey’s biggest prize, the Stanley Cup.

Los Angeles was never expected to make it this far. After barely making the playoffs, they rolled over better seeded opponents to make it to the final series in a miraculous run. The Kings faced down the New Jersey Devils in the final series that initially looked like it would be a cakewalk for the Kings winning the first three games. After going on a 12-2 tear to the Western Conference title, the Kings won the first two games of the finals in overtime by identical 2-1 scores in New Jersey. Los Angeles then hammered the Devils 4-0 in Game 3, but missed their first chance to take the Cup on home ice in New Jersey’s 3-1 victory in Game 4.The Devils then went on to beat Los Angeles 2 goals to in Game 5, earning them another cross-country trip after becoming the first team in over 50 years to win twice after falling behind 0-3 in the finals. Their luck would not hold however. The Kings were the West’s bottom seed after failing to clinch a playoff berth until right before their 81st and final game, but this was only because they underachieved for much of the season, spending most of it as the NHL’s lowest-scoring team. Things turned around under new coach Daryl Sutter, who replaced the fired Terry Murray just before Christmas and had turned Los Angeles into a potent offensive club by late February.But it was not just offence that won the series for the Kings, as goaltender Jonathan Quick was named the Conn Smythe trophy winner, which is awarded to the most valuable player in the NHL playoffs. Coach Sutter did not rule out the possibility of a repeat from his talented young squad, ‘It’s pretty awesome,’ Sutter said. ‘It’s the feeling of seeing them so happy, the work that you go through. The first thing you think about as a coach – these guys are all young enough, they’ve got to try it again.’