Brandon Dubinsky (17) of the New York Rangers looks on as the New Jersey Devils celebrate their second goal of the first period during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, May 23 2012, in New York. (Jim McIsaac/Newsday/MCT)
No one could have predicted this year’s Stanley Cup Final. It features the #8 seed L.A. Kings vs. the #6 seed New Jersey Devils from the Eastern Conference. When the regular season ended analysts picked their favorites to take home Lord Stanley’s trophy. Not one picked the Kings or the Devils.
The most common picks to win the Stanley Cup where the President trophy winners, NY Rangers, led by the high scoring tandem of Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, and Ryan Callahan, the #3 seed Blues and their goalies Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliot who combined for 11 shutouts, and the #4 seed Pittsburgh Penguins who won 18 of their last 23 games and had a healthy Sidney Crosby back.
History is history though. While all those teams ended the regular season fairly strong, the Kings and the Devils peaked to their full potential in the playoffs while the other teams simply did not. It’s as simple as that.
The Kings entered the playoffs having to skate an upward hill. Facing the top seed Canucks, the Kings were still able to pull off the series upset by scoring a combined 8 goals in the first 2 games on the experienced goaltender Roberto Luongo, which propelled them to 2-0 series lead and they never looked back. In the second round, they took advantage of the Blues having lost Jaroslav Halak to injury and scored 12 goals in the first 3 games on Brian Elliot. In the 3rd round, the Kings were able to steam by the Phoenix Coyotes due to Coyotes drawing too many unnecessary penalties and having limited scoring opportunities.
The Devils enter the finals having bested the Florida Panthers, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the New York Rangers. In the 1st round, the future hall of fame goalie for the Devils, Martin Brodeur, propelled the Devils to victory by putting on a show, stopping 43 of 45 shots in game 7 on the road. In round 2 against the Flyers, the Devils eased the pressure off of Brodeur by scoring 18 goals in five games led by 3rd line player Bryce Salvador. And in the 3rd round, the hat goes of to the entire team. The Devils managed to stay out of the penalty box and the Rangers scored no power play goals in games 4-6.
And now, the two fairy tale stories collide. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner. I predict that the Kings will win this series because the Kings’ goalie, Jonathan King, is undoubtedly the best goalie in hockey right now and center Anze Kopitar and winger Dustin Brown are more of a serious scoring threat than the Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise.
Reporter’s Prediction: L.A. Kings win in 6 games
