Can the Kings create history?

The Los Angeles Kings are definitely the surprise outfit in the NHL playoffs so far. They have won 11 of their 13 games in their quest to try and make it into the history books by being the first eighth seed team to lift the Stanley Cup.

So far, the Kings haven’t just won, they have won big. In the first round of the playoffs they took on the Vancouver Canucks, a team who had won over 50 games in the regular season. A lot of people thought the Kings would cause an upset but not in the convincing fashion that they did. They outplayed Vancouver in all areas of the game, and took the series by four games to one, including 3 victories at Rogers Arena.

After seeing the Canucks off, the Kings faced perhaps an even tougher task in the Western Conference semi-finals. They were facing the St Louis Blues, the surprise outfit of the regular season. They had a sublime home record of 30-6-5 throughout the season, and with home ice advantage, the Kings were going to have to play some good hockey. Did the Kings play good hockey? No, they played amazing hockey. They sent the Blues crashing out of the playoffs with a huge series win by four games to none. If that didn’t make the rest of the teams stand up and take notice, what would?

They have one more obstacle to overcome if they want to appear in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993. Their divisional rivals are the team stood in front of them, the Phoenix Coyotes. The Kings had a lot more class early in the series and it looked as if the Coyotes weren’t going to play their part at all. However, the Yotes managed to steel game 4 last night to cut the Kings’ lead to three games to one.

A huge part of LA’s success has been down to their American goaltender, Jonathan Quick. He has provided his team with a solid platform to perform from, recording some exquisite numbers in the process. In the playoffs, he has a save percentage of .948, a GAA of 1.46 and has two shutouts to his name. The fact that the Kings have only lost two games so far has lead to Quick playing considerably less minutes than other goalies, meaning his performance levels should be maintained.

Thriving upon Quick’s success are Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar, who have 15 and 14 points respectively in 13 playoff appearances. They both have a massive +12 rating as well as 43 shots on goal, forming a formidable first line along with Justin Williams, the experienced right-winger.

I think that the Kings will finish the series with Phoenix pretty soon and we will be well rested for the Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers and Devils series could still go either way, but I would love to see the Rangers prevail and watch Quick and Lundqvist battle it out.