NHL Stanley Cup Final Preview

After over a month and a half, we’re finally here. We have reached the point of no return and after starting with sixteen teams in the race, we are down to just two. The NHL Playoffs have winded down to its pinnacle and what an exciting road it has been. We’ve seen dozens and dozens of overtime periods, some reaching far into the night, we’ve seen shutouts, we’ve seen great goaltending performances, top seeds get stunned, unlikely heroes made, and… okay that’s enough of the clichés. We’re down to two more teams, and what a better way to tell you how they got here than…telling you how they got here. What, you were expecting something convoluted, broad and difficult to understand? You’ve come to the wrong place then.

How They Got Here

Los Angeles Kings: Nobody expected the Los Angeles Kings to get to the Stanley Cup Finals, but even L.A. Kings fans probably thought that their chances of beating the President Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks were slim and next to none. Little did they know that that series would be the start of something very, very special A thumping and nothing short of it in five games, that was capped off by an overtime GWG by center Jarret Stoll sent the Kings to the second round for the first time in roughly a decade and left Vancouver stunned once again.

The Kings then moved on to take on a pleasant surprise to the NHL this season, the St. Louis Blues. The Blues were the top defensive team in the league allowing less than two goals a game on average through the entirety of the season, and quickly disposed of the San Jose Sharks in the previous round in five games. Don’t tell that to Los Angeles though because they sure as heck made it seem like the regular season was a distant memory. Brian Elliot was made to look as bad as he looked when he was an Ottawa Senator, not even being able to stop a beach ball, and gave the city of St. Louis the “blues” as they swept through the #2 seed in the Western Conference.

After their conquests of the #1 and #2 teams in the conference, the Kings turned their attention towards their third and final foe. It was a familiar one as well, as it turned out to be the Pacific Division winning Phoenix Coyotes who went on a torrid run of their own in the postseason, surviving five straight overtime finishes in the first round against Chicago, and beating Nashville subsequently in the next round. This division clash was just like the rest of the Kings’ conquests and was made to look easy. L.A. ended the series just like they did in Vancouver, in overtime and on the road, with the winning goal scored by pancake aficionado Dustin Penner, capping off a remarkable run for the Kings to the Cup Final where they did not lose one single game on the road (8-0).

New Jersey Devils: Much like the Los Angeles Kings, the Devils weren’t everybody’s favorite to move through the East. The focus was shifted elsewhere, towards Philadelphia, towards Pittsburgh, Boston, and the New York Rangers, but much like the Kings, the Devils spent a lot of time this postseason proving people wrong. Their first test was against the new kids on the block: the Florida Panthers, who hadn’t made the playoffs since the 1999-00 season, where ironically enough they faced the Devils who that year would go on to win the Stanley Cup. The Devils were overmatched by Florida’s lethal powerplay, but a double overtime goal in Game 7 by rookie Adam Henrique lifted the Devils out of the first round for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

Their next series was against the Philadelphia Flyers, whom after quickly disposing, and well, throttling the Pittsburgh Penguins looked to be the new favorites to make it out of the Eastern Conference. The Devils were thought to be no match for Claude Giroux and his fellow companions, but following the second period of Game 1 of this series the Devils absolutely dominated from start to finish, pillar to post. Ilya Bryzgalov looked like his usual playoff self (Vastly underachieving everyone’s “expectations.” If you ask me Bryzgalov is nothing special and never has been.) and the Devils forecheck looked incredible throughout the quick five game series, and on the Devils went to the Conference Finals for the first time since 2003, the last year that they won the Cup.

After disposing of one rival, the Devils were left with another. The New York Rangers who were first in the Eastern Conference for nearly the entire season were the only thing standing in the Devils’ way of winning the East. After the Rangers survived two game seven’s, they looked to put it mildly, sluggish, and had it not been for Henrik Lundqvist looking like the All-Universe goaltender that he is, the Devils may have swept the Rangers in the Conference Finals. But that was not to be, and the Devils had to scratch and claw their way to victory and get goals from an unlikely hero in Ryan Carter in Game 5, and then Adam Henrique, the man who sent the Devils to the Conference Semifinals, pushed the puck into the back of the net in a netmouth scramble to send New Jersey to the Final.

The Four Lines

What are the four storylines going into this Stanley Cup Final?

The Kings’ Road Dominance: If you tried to explain to the Los Angeles Kings what a road loss was, they would probably look at you funnily like you were speaking some other language. The boys from La-La Land have been incredible away from the STAPLES Center throughout this postseason, posting an 8-0 record and going back to the 2011 postseason, the Kings are 10-0. This series will once again start away from Los Angeles as it will begin inside the Prudential Center in Newark, so Game 1 will be a very good indicator as to whether or not this road warrior mentality will continue on through the Final.

Quick-er than a Hiccup: Formulating an unpopular opinion here, but if Jonathan Quick played on the right coast instead of the left coast, he might be heralded as the league’s best goaltender. The Milford, Connecticut born goalie has been awesome in the 2011-12 season and postseason thus far but it isn’t like he hasn’t done this well before. The last couple of seasons he has shown this unfathomable potential that seems to be being reached right before our very eyes. Quick had an incredible 10 shutouts during the regular season and was one of the main reasons, if not the reason that the Kings even were close to making the playoffs since they could not score goals if their lives depended on it, finishing second worst in the league in the goals forced department. Look for this man who is being compared to Mike Richter to continue his incredible goaltending prowess in the pinnacle series.

The Devils’ Depth: Straight from the depths of hell, you could say, come the Devils’ abilities to score with the best of them. Not only do they have great goal scorers on their top six, Patrik Elias, David Clarkson, Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk and Travis Zajac to name a few, but they have been getting incredible production from their third and fourth lines. The fourth line has been superb this postseason and was especially productive in the Conference Finals. Ryan Carter was the man who scored the GWG in Game 5, and along with him, Steve Bernier, and Stephen Gionta, the fourth line which is not always known for being a great goal-scoring line in hockey, has been one of the keys to the Devils’ success.

Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a Martysaur!: If you follow me on Twitter you know that I tend to take some light-hearted jabs at Martin Brodeur for being a 40-year old “dinosaur” and a couple of times in the regular season he did in fact look his age. However since the postseason began, Marty has looked Tyrannosaurus Rex-like, and in a good way, not the “65 million years ago, oh @!#& I’m about to get hit by a meteor” way. His GAA is an impressive 2.04, and has a SV% of .923, which puts him seventh overall amongst goaltenders that have played this postseason. It is nothing spectacular like he used to be, but Marty has been everything the Devils could have asked for this postseason and look for him to be crucial to whether or not they win it all.

The Three Stars

What three players are crucial to their teams’ success in this Final?

Drew Doughty: I wanted to think about players that were stars in this league and when looking over both of these rosters I can’t help but think that Drew Doughty belongs in that category. There is a lot to love about this guy and while he looked lethargic this past season, much like the rest of the L.A. Kings, he has ramped it up and looks like he’s going to soon be what everyone expects him to be: the best defenceman in the National Hockey League. Doughty has had a presence for the puck and seems to always be around it. To cite a good friend of mine’s feelings on him, there is a lot of Nicklas Lidström in Drew Doughty. And that’s really high praise because Lidstrom is one of the greatest defencemen in the history of the NHL. Doughty was very on point in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, recording a goal and an assist, technically if you want to say two goals you could since the first one was a redirected point shot from Doughty, and he has looked like the best defenceman in the league this postseason.

Ilya Kovalchuk: It seems to me that Ilya Kovalchuk has grabbed the attention of Devils fans since he was traded at the 2010 deadline for both the good and the bad. Mostly the bad it seems, as lazy play has been called on his part but that to me is a bit unfair. When he’s on he is one of the best goal scorers in the league and outplayed everybody on the Devils during the regular season, when it comes to statistics at least. He finished the regular season with 83 points (37-46-83), which was fifth amongst the rest of the NHL, and his 37 goals led the team. If not for Patrik Elias’ 52 assists, Kovalchuk’s 46 would have led the team as well. Kovy has been very hit or miss this postseason but to me that’s mainly because he’s been playing injured for much of it. He’s had his fair share of criticism and deservedly in so in some respects but if the Devils are going to win their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, they are going to need all that they can get from this man.

Anze Kopitar: It was going to no doubt be uneven from the get go so don’t call me out for selecting two Kings and just one Devil. Needless to say the Devils will need production from just about everyone that they have got, but the Kings will definitely need everything from arguably their best player, the center from Slovenia. Kopitar was an MVP candidate for much of the first part of the season before his production dipped ever so slightly, but he still managed to finish within the Top 20 in points (25-51-76) and  a +12. While they weren’t career highs and he wasn’t setting the world on fire, Kopitar’s presence on the ice in the postseason has been enormous this year and he has been awesome for them along with Dustin Brown (who I think could be the Conn Smythe Trophy winner). Kopitar has scored six goals this postseason and been there for nine assists (6-9-15) and has a +13, so good things are definitely happening when he’s on the ice. The Williams-Kopitar-Brown line has been the best line for L.A. this postseason and it’s no secret why.

Two for…

Two things that need to happen for each team to win…

Los Angeles Kings: If the Los Angeles Kings want to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, aside from everything that has already been said, they are going to need to slow down the aggressive forecheck that the Devils bring with them, and use their size, speed and strength to their advantages. We have seen the Devils bring a very quick and aggressive forecheck with them for most of the postseason and it has worked out for the better of them for the most part. The Kings can’t let the Devils set and push the tempo of this series from the get go. What helps for them is that they play a similar fast-paced, open style of hockey but the difference is that their players are just flat out bigger than what the Devils bring to the table. It almost reminds me of Boston last year against Vancouver because Vancouver had lots of players that were great goal scorers and weren’t very large, and Boston didn’t have the greatest goal scorers in the dance but they used their strengths to their betterment. The Kings have more size and more strength than the Devils and they are bigger than them and that could wind up being the difference at the end of the day.

New Jersey Devils: If the New Jersey Devils want to win their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, aside from everything that has already been said, they are going to need to cool the Kings down and take at least one of the first two games at home, and not let the Kings agitate them to the point of no return. The Kings’ success has been discussed frequently around the league and in this preview. If the Devils want to even stand a chance they have to look at the first or second game as a must-win scenario. Now getting the obvious out of the way, you have to win four games to win the Stanley Cup. That’s clear. But Los Angeles Kings fans have been waiting for this moment since the franchise’s inception and ever since 1993 when they came very close to winning it all. I cannot imagine what type of atmosphere the STAPLES Center will have if the Kings go up 2-0 once again for the fourth consecutive series. It might not be pretty to say the very least. Needless to say the Kings have been very aggressive throughout this playoffs and captain Dustin Brown has been the center of agitation. The Devils can’t fall into the trap of being overly physical and then letting themselves get undisciplined. It didn’t work for the Flyers when they tried to play that game, so there may not be any reason that the Devils could let it happen to them this time against the Kings, but the threat is still very real, and the Devils can’t fall for the that trap.

One…

Who hoists the Cup when it’s all said and done?

I can honestly say that this is the first time since 2007 that I can say that it wouldn’t be that hard to take if either of these teams won it all. If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I have been on the Kings from just about the start of the season and if I have talked to you about hockey before this season you will know that I have been on the Kings since before that and predicted big things for them. With that said I think that the Devils will definitely be the biggest challenge that the Kings will have faced (yes, I think that the Devils are better than the Canucks, who played very complacently to end the season and it showed how out of sync they were in the first round) and will pose a real threat to win the Stanley Cup and could do so. But I just think that even with all of that said, everything has gone the Kings way and I think it stays that way.

Los Angeles Kings in 6, meaning they’ll hoist the Cup at home and be the first team to do that since 2007.