For just the 2nd time in the 44 year history of the Los Angeles Kings, they will be playing for Lord Stanely's Cup. LA defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night to clinch the series 4 games to 1. It was undoubtedly one of the most exciting and stressful hockey games I've ever watched.
The Kings looked terrible to start the game. I was legitimately worried the series was turning to favor the Coyotes. Phoenix was outworking LA and getting all of the fortuitous bounces. Then Drew Doughty cranked a shot in that Anze Kopitar deflected past Mike Smith. It looked like things were turning around. Then the Kings got unlucky and had two goals slip past Quick that Phoenix didn't really earn. What I mean by that is they didn't set up a play or anything. The Kings just kind of "derped" and the Coyotes were able to capitalize. At the end of regulation, which consisted of 3 of the hardest fought periods I've seen all year, the score was tied at 3.
By far the biggest story that will come out of the game will be Dustin Brown's hit on Michal Rozsival just before Penner buried the series-clinching goal. Did he absolutely clobber him? Yes, no argument. But for those who are saying he meant to drive the top of his knee into the side of Rozsival's knee, I ask you this. Do you really think in the 2 seconds before they came together, Brown had enough time to think, "Hey, if I come in at this angle I'll be able to take out his knee"? It's just not possible, the play happened too fast. Also, if you watch the replay, it looks pretty clear that he was leading with his shoulder, not his knee. It was an unfortunate occurrence, but hey, that's hockey. Coyotes goalie Mike Smith was quoted as saying, "if Raffi Torres gets 25 game then he ought to be out forever." This really illustrates how dumb Smith must be. Headhunting a defenseless goalie behind the net is nowhere near the same as an open ice check. I understand that Smith is emotional and everything, but come on man. Think about how ridiculous that statement is. But then again, he flops like crazy and whacks guys in the back of their knees with his stick, so I'm not really surprised. Have fun golfing tomorrow Mike.
The Kings will face either the Rangers or the Devils for the Stanley Cup which will start on May 30th. Currently their series is tied at 2 games apiece. Whoever LA faces, they are going to have to play better than they did tonight. If they can play like they did against the Canucks, Blues, or even the first 2 games of the Western Conference Finals, they have a very serious chance of bringing home the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
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Showing posts with label NHL Western Conference Finals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NHL Western Conference Finals. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Kings To Face Coyotes In Western Conference Finals
Not sure Los Angeles and Phoenix are what anyone would consider to be classic hockey cities, but a team from one of them will be playing for the Stanley Cup.
The Kings, a team that it would be tough to argue as anything less than the hottest in the playoffs, punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals by sweeping the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. The Phoenix Coyotes became the other half of the equation when the beat the Predators Monday night to take the series 4 games to 1. How in Nashville is considered part of the Western Conference is beyond me, but that's a discussion for another time and place.
The Kings and Coyotes played each other 6 times during the regular season, with LA coming away with a slight advantage. The Kings record versus the Coyotes was 3-1-2 with three of the games going past regulation. It's very easy to see these teams are quite evenly matched. In fact, Coyotes netminder Mike Smith might be the only goalie playing near the level Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has been so far.
After looking at the postseason statistics for both teams, it would be tough to see this series being anything less than 6 games. The Kings are allowing 1.56 goals per game, the best in the playoffs, and Phoenix is allowing 1.91 which is second best. LA is scoring 3.00 goals for game, tied for 3rd best, Phoenix is scoring 2.64, which 4 best. The Kings are averaging nearly 6 more minor penalty minutes per game, but they also have the best penalty kill percentage. The Coyotes do convert on powerplays 16.1 percent of the time and the Kings are only scoring with an advantage 8.5 percent of the time, 2nd to last of all the teams that made the playoffs.
The keys for LA in this series are simple. They need to be a bit more disciplined than they were when they were facing the Blues, which really shouldn't be an issue. At the same time, they still need to play physical hockey. They can't back down, they need to stay in the same frame of mind they have since game 1 in Vancouver. The biggest thing, and this goes without saying I think, is going to be goaltending. If Quick plays the way he has and Smith keeps up his stinginess, this is going to be a very low scoring series. My prediction (complete with a whole lot of Kings bias thrown in) is Kings in 6. The schedule for the series has yet to be announced.
Follow me on Twitter- @TwittinSports
The Kings, a team that it would be tough to argue as anything less than the hottest in the playoffs, punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals by sweeping the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. The Phoenix Coyotes became the other half of the equation when the beat the Predators Monday night to take the series 4 games to 1. How in Nashville is considered part of the Western Conference is beyond me, but that's a discussion for another time and place.
The Kings and Coyotes played each other 6 times during the regular season, with LA coming away with a slight advantage. The Kings record versus the Coyotes was 3-1-2 with three of the games going past regulation. It's very easy to see these teams are quite evenly matched. In fact, Coyotes netminder Mike Smith might be the only goalie playing near the level Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has been so far.
After looking at the postseason statistics for both teams, it would be tough to see this series being anything less than 6 games. The Kings are allowing 1.56 goals per game, the best in the playoffs, and Phoenix is allowing 1.91 which is second best. LA is scoring 3.00 goals for game, tied for 3rd best, Phoenix is scoring 2.64, which 4 best. The Kings are averaging nearly 6 more minor penalty minutes per game, but they also have the best penalty kill percentage. The Coyotes do convert on powerplays 16.1 percent of the time and the Kings are only scoring with an advantage 8.5 percent of the time, 2nd to last of all the teams that made the playoffs.
The keys for LA in this series are simple. They need to be a bit more disciplined than they were when they were facing the Blues, which really shouldn't be an issue. At the same time, they still need to play physical hockey. They can't back down, they need to stay in the same frame of mind they have since game 1 in Vancouver. The biggest thing, and this goes without saying I think, is going to be goaltending. If Quick plays the way he has and Smith keeps up his stinginess, this is going to be a very low scoring series. My prediction (complete with a whole lot of Kings bias thrown in) is Kings in 6. The schedule for the series has yet to be announced.
Follow me on Twitter- @TwittinSports
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