"An improbable but inspiring run. For the first time in their 45 year history, a Stanley Cup for Los Angeles. The Kings are the kings!." Those were the words of NBC announcer Doc Emerick in Game 6 between the Kings and Devils in 2012. The horn sounded and moments later the Kings were hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup. They got there by being better than the best. The Kings experienced a similar run last year but it ended in the Western Conference Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks. This year however they beat the Blackhawks in the Western Final and are playing for the Stanley Cup against the New York Rangers. Their run this year, just like in 2012, was incredible and we'll breakdown their championship season and their current season.
The Kings were incorporated into the NHL as a part of the 1967 NHL Expansion which included other teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues. While the California Golden Seals didn't last and the Minnesota North Stars went south to Dallas, the Kings stayed and developed a rich history. Whether it be the Triple Crown Line in the 70's and 80's to the Stanley Cup bound team led by Wayne Gretzky in 1993.
Despite some success, the Kings never got to experience what it felt like to win the Stanley Cup until 2012. The regular season saw a struggling Kings team replace its head coach and look desperately for goals. In an unforgiving Western Conference, and an even harsher Pacific Division, the Kings eventually found a way to win and made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the eigth seed in the west. They faced off against the top seeded Vancouver Canucks. The Kings took a commanding 3-0 lead and eventually won the series four games to one. In the second round the Kings faced the St. Louis Blues. The Blues proved to be no match for this Kings team as LA swept the Blues and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. There they met a bitter rival, the Phoenix Coyotes. Led by goaltender Mike Smith, the Coyotes battled the Kings for dominance of the Pacific Division and now for a trip to the Stanley Cup. The series was bitter and hard fought. The Kings got inside the heads of Mike Smith and his teammates and were able to end the harshest series in recent years, one that rivaled the Rangers-Devils series and the Flyers-Penguins series. The Kings went to the Stanley Cup and met the New Jersey Devils. Their seeds combined for a total of 14 (the Kings finished eigth in the west, the Devils were sixth in the East), the highest ever of two teams playing for the Stanley Cup. The Kings beat the Devils in six games and won the Stanley Cup.
The Kings set several records and had several outstanding stats in their Cup run. They were 10-1 in away games, only losing to the Devils in Game 5 in New Jersey. Los Angeles is the only team in NHL history to be the eighth seeded team and win the Stanley Cup and are the second team ever to reach the Finals that had been in the number eight spot, the other being the 2005-06 Oilers. They knocked off the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seeds in their conference, which was another first for a Stanley Cup winning team.
The Kings looked for similar success in the shortened 2013 season. They finished second in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference. In the first round of the playoffs they met a familar foe: the St. Louis Blues. The Blues went up 2-0 in the series but LA wouldn't give up and won the next four games to advance to the second round. There they met their California foe from San Jose. The Sharks were looking for a trip to the Western Conference Final and had many big names like Joe Thornton and Antti Niemi. They fought through seven games but LA once again came up big. They advanced to the Conference Final against the best team in the NHL: the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were coming off one of the best seasons in franchise history and from a 3-1 deficit in Round 2 to their bitter enemy, the Detroit Red Wings. This was a team that LA for once couldn't handle. While they put up a valiant effort, including tying the Game 5 with less than ten seconds, they couldn't withstand the barrage that Chicago threw against them in Game 5 and lost the game in double overtime.
Following a new NHL alignment and new division, the Kings returned to their winning ways. When Jonathan Quick suffered an injury mid-way through the season, the Kings made stars out of goaltenders Ben Scrivens and Martin Jones. Jones tied an NHL record by going 8-0-0 in his first eight NHL games. While Scrivens would leave for Edmonton before the playoffs, Jones stayed and Quick returned. The Kings once again had trouble scoring goals and once again got through it. They made it to the playoffs only to face San Jose for the second year in a row. The Sharks went up 3-0 in the series and the Kings season looked like it was over. But LA did something that had only been done three times before, come back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series and win that series. LA impressed the hockey world but had no time to celebrate as they would face their other California rival in the second round; the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks, who had just beat Dallas in six games, hoped to finally prove they could get far in not only the regular season, but also the postseason. But in Game 7, that dream was over before the second period was. By the second period, the Kings were already up 5-0 in the game and then won it 6-2. They put a spoiler on the end of Teemu Selanne's career and looked to gain revenge against the team that eliminated them the year before in the Blackhawks. The Kings were determined not to let the Hawks beat them for the second consecutive year and showed that when they went up three games to one in the series. However, Chicago came back and tied the series at three games. The teams would battle fiercely in Chicago in Game 7 and would go to overtime. But Alec Martinez would have none of it and eliminated Chicago less than six minutes into overtime.
The Kings are now up against the Rangers in the Stanley Cup Final and are in an outright battle. NY will put up a good fight with stars like Henrik Lundqvist and Martin St. Louis, but if history has proven anything, it's that the Los Angeles Kings never give up.