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The Stanley Cup Finals are set to get underway on Wednesday night, with the incredibly unlikely matchup against the no. 6 seed New Jersey Devils and no. 8 seed Los Angeles Kings.
The journeys of both are well known. The Devils took down the surprising Florida Panthers before ousting a pair of division rivals, including the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Kings also took down a division rival in their conference final, besting the surprising Phoenix Coyotes in five games to get here.
At this point, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see either team win. Neither team was widely expected to be here when the Stanley Cup Playoffs began, but here we are. But if you had to pick a favorite between the two, it should be the Kings.
It’s well known, but somewhat forgotten this deep into the season, that this was a team that was expected to contend for a Cup title. It’s only their underachieving all year and nonexistent offense that kept them out of the title discussion until…after the first round of the postseason.
But this is a team that has found their groove, and they’ve done it in each aspect of the game.
On offense, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown have been fantastic. Kopitar is an elite player and has shown that in the postseason, while Brown has made those midseason trade rumors more of a joke than if a player were to injure himself while eating a pile of pancakes.
Speaking of pancakes, Dustin Penner is no longer a joke. He’s been a bigtime role player for the Kings, as has Dwight King. Don’t forget about Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, or Justin Williams either. There’s a boatload of talent on the forward ranks for the Kings.
Where this team makes a living, though, is on defense. There is no better defensive club in the league than the Los Angeles Kings, and that goes back to the beginning of the year. With such a poor offense, the defense kept them in games and helped them to even reach the playoffs, let alone find success in it.
The blue line has been great. Drew Doughty is now humble and hardworking and has made everyone forget about how overpaid he is/was. Willie Mitchell has logged some big minutes on defense and Matt Greene and Rob Scuderi have been strong as well. This is a team that handles speed well. They know how to handle a forecheck and are smart with the puck. That will serve them well against the Devils.
That guy between the pipes for the Kings is alright as well. Jonathan Quick is a Vezina Trophy finalist and is considered a Conn Smythe favorite, likely along with Dustin Brown. Quick’s been stellar, with a 1.54 GAA in the postseason and a pair of shutouts. He could end up following in the footsteps of Tim Thomas and take home both the Vezina and Conn Smythe this year, if all goes well.
As far as special teams, the Kings have an edge in the penalty kill, though the power play could end up being a concern. Their power play is laughable, converting at just 8 percent in these playoffs. But if you’re scoring at even strength and aren’t allowing goals like the Kings have been doing, you can pretty much mask any issues with the power play unit.
As things stand right now, the Kings have everything you want/need to win a championship. They have the offense. They have the defense. They have the goaltending and the chemistry. Not that the Devils have those things. They have plenty of skill on offense, have been solid defensively, and have one of the best goaltenders, if not the best, of all time manning the crease. The Kings are simply one notch above them, at this point.
Who knows what can happen? No one expected the Kings to make this run, and now few likely expect them to lose. But judging off of what we’ve seen so far in the playoffs, it’s hard to see the Kings losing more than two games in this series. They have it all. And until their level of intensity drops or something unforeseen changes that, the Kings should be favored all the way in this series to take home their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
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