Throwback Thursday Part 3: Stanley Cup Champions

By Emily Redenbach
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: June 19, 2015

June 4th. Staples Center. 5pm. The puck is about to drop on the Kings twenty-second game of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. This was it. The Stanley Cup Finals. What every team, every player, every coach, every fan, every hockey anything in the world spends their life hoping to reach. And the LA Kings were there. For the second time in three years. Their run this time around was significantly different from their first successful bid to win the Cup, which seemed like a breeze compared to the battles fought and won to get to this point. None of that mattered any more. We were here. And we were going to win.

For most of the first game, no one told the scoreboard that. Wayne Gretzky‘s ceremonial puck drop certainly amped up the crowd but unfortunately for the Kings he seemed to amp up the Rangers more, who got of quite a few good shots within the opening minutes. Five minutes in the Rangers seemed to have all the speed and all the pressure. Jonathan Quick and Henriq Lundqvist were both on their game, making some grade A saves; Quick no more so than on the first penalty kill. Then a misplay by Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin led to a clean-cut breakaway for Beniot Pouliot who snapped the puck past Quick top shelf blocker side, 13:21 into the first. It was an annoyingly stunning goal. On the next shift Pearson drew a penalty, giving the Kings a good chance to get the goal back. Unfortunately, it was possibly the most embarrassing couple of minutes the Kings had, clearly being outplayed, outskated and outshot 3-0 on the powerplay. Did I mention one of those shots went in? At 15:03 the Rangers scored a shorthanded goal from Carl Hagelin (though technically you could say it was from Slava Voynov, who accidentally deflected Hagelin’s rebound past Quick blocker side.) It seemed to be the wake up call the Kings needed though to start playing. In a beautiful sequence starring Kyle Clifford as the eventual goal scorer, the Kings sustained substantial offensive zone time, forced a turnover by the left-wing, then Jeff Carter who ended up with the puck behind the net fed Clifford who knocked it home top shelf, 17:33 into the first. Doughty leveled the playing field in a play so beautiful you have to see to believe.

9 seconds later Derick Brassard nearly took out captain Dustin Brown and while the resulting power play was much improved on their first, they still couldn’t get a shot off. There was a questionable call late in the second, where Mike Richards was called for high sticking but Chris Kreider thrusting the butt of his stick into Doughty’s head was left unpunished; he still looked angry starting the third. The Kings came back with fire, putting Lundqvist through his paces, outshooting the Rangers 5-0 in just over two minutes, including the last 41 seconds of the Richards penalty. They were still outshooting them 11-0 eight minutes in, yet no results. A little four on four action resulting from Rick Nash holding Doughty who also got an embellishment call added a little flavor to the game. It took 11:43 for the Rangers to get their first shot on goal in the period; it came on a three on two that Quick handled easily. By then the Kings had 14. Yet. No score. Dwight King drew a penalty with 1:36 to go (Brian Boyle literally broke King’s stick in half.) A missed pass on the Rangers blue line lead to a Hagelin break away that gave me a heart attack; the Kings controlled the rebound and responded with their own fine chance – a wraparound from Carter Lundqvist dove across the net to stop. (Seriously – darn you Lundqvist do being so good.) It was still tied at the end of regulation so yet again, the Kings played a little bit of overtime. (Sidenote – the shots on goal in the third period were 20-3 Kings. They may have been sluggish in the first but damn did they wake up by then.) The Kings had 24 seconds of a power play left to start OT, but it would take them 4:36 to get the game winning goal. It came from a bad turnover by Dan Girardi in his zone, leaving the front of the net wide open (save Lundqvist) and the Rangers players out of position. Richards, who intercepted the puck, passed to an unguarded Justin WIlliams who shot top shelf beating Lundqvist blocker side.

Game two started in an eerily similar fashion, the Kings going down 2-0. Carter left less than four minutes into the game after an unfortunate but legal hit, and took what seemed like a lifetime to return. (My nerves were still shot from the Chicago series. Apparently they were not going to get a break. At all. Game three was my only relief. I really don’t know how I’m not dead right now.) Ryan McDonagh opened the scoring a little over half way into the first period, a blast from the left slot through traffic – Quick never even saw the puck. Brown got him back with an unpenalized crosscheck and McDonagh’s retaliation put him in the box for crosschecking, but since the Kings didn’t capitalize, I’d say the Rangers got the best of that. Shortly after, they doubled their lead after a neutral zone turnover, some sustained pressure in the Kings zone, and a goal tapped in by Mats Zuccarello from a McDonaugh shot. (I imagine in the locker room after the first period Coach Daryl Sutter had a few things to say about coverage on him.)

The second period wasn’t much better. Sure, the Kings scored two goals. But so did the Rangers. Other stats weren’t good either; the Kings iced the puck three times in the first minute and a half. The hits, which were 23-9 in the first period of game 1, were basically even. Finally, it seemed, 1:46 into the second, in a similar goal the Zuccarello’s, Jarret Stoll got the Kings on the board. Richards turned the puck over right inside the blue line, got it to Dwight King who shoots – pad save by Lundqvist. Williams picked up the rebound and backhanded it to Jarret Stoll at the right-wing who snapped it past a sprawling Lundqvist. The Kings handled their next penalty kill well, especially considering Trevor Lewis gave his stick to Voynov and was without for a good thirty seconds. The one after that, not so much. Martin St. Louis scored his seventh of the playoffs, from the right circle, top shelf. And suddenly, the Kings were down by two again. Three minutes later the Kings got their power play goal back from Willie Mitchell, his first of the playoffs. Again, Brown drew the penalty, this time from Zuccarello. In the dying seconds, the Kings made some strategic passes to open up a shooting lane for him; he blasted the puck form the blue line. 11 seconds later, the Rangers regained a two goal lead. Again. Zuccarello making up for his penalty turned the puck over behind the Kings net and got the first jab at it, though it was Derick Brassard who jabbed it home.

But this is hockey. More to the point: this is Kings hockey. Never give up. Never surrender. The Rangers may have been 10-0 when taking a lead into the third period, but the Kings were all about breaking records this playoffs. Oddly no penalties were called in the third. Not that Lundqvist didn’t want one instead of the Kings third goal. Matt Greene slapped the shot from the blue line and Dwight King either tipped the puck on the way in or interfered with the goaltender. There was some talk by the referees but the call on the ice stood; King touched Lundqvist after the puck had crossed the line. Kings fans breath again, only down by one. Been there before. Have I mentioned how well Marian Gaborik settled into being a King? His unassisted goal leveled the game with 12:24 remaining. Credit Muzzin and Anze Kopitar for keeping the puck alive and in the Rangers zone, then Brown getting the puck out to a pretty open Gaborik, who then got swamped by three Rangers yet somehow managed to hack at the puck three times, finally getting one of them in the back of the net. (Actually Kreider seemed to give the puck back to Gaborik for the last one. Assist to Kreider?) It took more than one grueling overtime to finally get the win. The first OT was relatively even. Six shots on goal for the Kings to the Rangers eight. Two Kings penalties to the Rangers one. (Though the second penalty actually looked better for the Kings to score than the Rangers. Twice they had a two on one breakaway that looked like a really good chance to close it out.) Credit to both goalies for a continued game. The second OT was another story – six shots on goal for the Kings; one for the Rangers. For 10:26 it was all Kings. Then Willie Mitchell fired a shot from the blue line that Brown deflected in – the change of angle eluded Lundqvist and we were up in the series 2-0, ready to head to New York.

Ah, the third game. Such sweet relief for my nerves. (Sidenote – in the Kings other successful playoff run in 2012, they opened each series with a 3-0 lead, losing game 4 three times and game 5 only once, in the Cup finals. They would obviously go on to win game six and their first Cup at home. Game three was a 4-0 shutout by Jonathan Quick, stopping 22 shots. For the first time in this playoff run, they opened the series by winning the first three games, and game three they won 3-0, another shutout by Quick, who stopped 32 shots.) The first period was tight; a lot of continued play with very few stoppages. Only one penalty 17:42 into the frame (Mitchell for high sticking, not sure I would have made that call). Lots of back and forth with not a lot of excitement but some very well-played hockey. One spectacular save from Quick about thirteen minutes in which was basically highway robbery on Matt Zuccarello (stick save of the century). Carter’s goal came with 19:59 played in the first period. It was so close it took much video review to prove it was actually a goal. The play was on Williams stick in the neutral zone with 4.0 seconds to go. He passed it to Carter with 2.0 seconds to go. Carter snapped it top shelf to the back of the net with 0.7 seconds to go, wrist shot over Lundqvist’s glove.

For the first time in the series, the Kings led a game. Yes, somehow during the 175:01 seconds these two teams had played up until Carter’s goal, the Kings had been either tied or behind. (The same goes for the 65:47 of game seven against the Hawks – the Kings were never in the lead. Until they won.) And they played like they wanted to keep it. 59 seconds into the second McDonagh’s high stick to Kopitar’s mouth brought their first power play. They were 1 for 9 in the series by the end of it, unsuccessful as usual with a man advantage, but unlike the last few at least the Rangers didn’t get any looks at the net. Nineteen seconds later they were back on the power play; this time it was Mark Stall who did the high sticking. And this time there was a reward. 4:17 into play in the second Muzzin wristed a shot from the blue line; as Lundqvist slid out to his right to deflect it the puck sailed straight past him on his left. The Rangers seemed to take the two goal deficit like the Kings – making every attempt to bounce back – only less successfully. The Kings killed three penalties after that, all three with penalty killing defensemen in the box (Mitchell for elbowing, Doughty for hooking which was preferable to the goal that certainly would have happened, and Muzzin for interference.) The Rangers notched seventeen shots on goal during the second period, including a stretch of thirteen in a row after Muzzin’s goal, the total more than twice the Kings eight. Yet the Kings ended the period up 3-0, the final goal coming from Mike Richards on a two-on-one breakaway. He attempted to pass the puck; that was blocked, so he elected to shoot and the puck ended up unblocked into the net past Lundqvist’s blocker side. By the end of the game (which featured a relatively uneventful third period – two Kings penalties and one Rangers, Lundqvist pulled with 4:21 to go but no shots resulted at all – that’s about it), Quick had held the Rangers scoreless for 115:36. He was the Conn Smythe winning superstar we saw in 2012. And the Kings were within one game of winning their second Stanley Cup in three years.

Game four came down to some incredibly close calls and rather shifty looking ice. Twice as we sat staring at the replays the puck stopped just short of crossing the goal line because of unusual ice build up on the crease. The Kings only needed one to take it to OT, but it was not meant to be, despite outshooting the Rangers 15-1 in the third, 41-19 overall. They dropped game four 2-1. (Our lone goal came from a Dustin Brown breakaway in the dying seconds of a Kings penalty kill; his forecheck and subsequent move of a thousand dekes had Crawford heading to block the puck in the opposite direction it was going. It was more like one deke with a shoulder fake and a perfectly timed shot, but in real-time it looked like a thousand tiny little moves.) All it meant was they would go on to win the Cup on home ice. If you haven’t been in the building when your team wins the Stanley Cup, the feeling is almost indescribable. Suffice to say, it’s one of the greatest moments I’ve ever experienced. Easily top three. The atmosphere was electric just heading down to LA Live. The rally towels were ready. The fans were pumped, and decked out in their jerseys or their cleverly designed apparel (That 70’s Line, Kings of California, back to back full season Champions, My cup size is Stanley…) The puck dropped at 5:23pm. It took over four hours of real-time, 94:43 of playing time for the Kings and Rangers to battle it out, making it the longest game in Kings history.

1:44 into the first we got the first power play of the game, one of only nine penalties in the game – four for the Rangers, five for the Kings. (The Kings final two penalties were in overtime and double overtime, so they were somewhat more significant.) There were a few good chances, but nothing made it past Lundqvist. That would happen for the first time this game 6:04 into the first frame, from the hero of big games, Justin Williams, who would make his bid to take the Conn Smythe from the front-runner for most of the playoff run Drew Doughty complete that night. Mitchell made the first shot from the left boards; Stoll, King and finally Williams kept wacking away at the puck in a scramble of at least six players that obscured Lundqvist’s view. The crowd could practically
taste the Stanley Cup coming home to stay for a year. Killing a Brown penalty less than two minutes later only served to strengthen the crowd’s, and the Kings, belief in that. A scramble at the net with a little over nine minutes to go showed Quick was up to a challenge, yet it seemed like he was giving up some rebounds we were lucky the Rangers didn’t capitalize on. An innocent yet spectacular looking hit on Quick from Benoit Pouliot saw the Kings on an impressive looking power play that was nullified when Doughty ended up in the box for cross-checking with 46 seconds remaining on the Ranger’s penalty. It left the Kings with 49 seconds to kill going into the second, which they did easily. Apart from the scoreboard, the second period was all Kings, getting some great looks all quashed by Lundqvist. The more saves both goalies made the more after the whistle action seemed to occur. Alas, during a penalty kill late in the second, the Rangers converted their first power play of the period. Even worse – they scored shorthanded about four minutes later, leaving the atmosphere somewhat deflated going into the intermission 30 seconds after.

Never a team to give up, and never a crowd to give up on their team, the Kings did not go quietly into the night. The score was not reflective of play. Lundqvist/crease ice stole one game; they were not to steal a second. For a stretch during the seventh minute, damn would Lundqvist try. Then, mere moments after maybe six or seven good scoring chances, the Rangers would require their time out to calm things down, but Muzzin drawing a tripping penalty against Dominic Moore would give the Kings the chance they needed. They already had the momentum going in. Doughty took the first shot from the right point; Marian Gaborik (appropriately an ex-Ranger) would punch it home between Lundqvist’s legs. Suddenly, the Stanley Cup looked within our grasp again. We just needed one goal in twelve minutes of play. We just needed Jonathan Quick to hold on. The Cup was in the building, and we wanted it. In fact, a chant of “we want the Cup” exploded at Staples Center. The excitement at every Kings chance (there were twelve recorded this period, including one by Muzzin in the dying seconds of the period that would have saved a lot of time) completely eclipsed any fear of a Rangers goal (they only had three chances.) Until the first overtime began. Then those Rangers chances looked a little more dangerous. There would be no room to get a goal back; there would be another game in New York. Very few people in the building wanted that, and they were mostly on the ice.

The Kings started the first overtime with some quality chances. (Sidenote – you could see during this series why Dean Lombardi wanted to give Mike Richards a chance to get back to his game, rather than buy him out.) The atmosphere got tense when Slava Voynov was called for hooking and every shot on goal could be the last. Fans were praying no-one else got called so it wouldn’t be a five on three. Every cleared puck sent relief waves through the stands. One McDonagh shot hit the post and even Quick wasn’t sure the game wasn’t over. (God what a terrifying moment; watching the replay on the jumbotron didn’t help the queasy feeling I had.) The Kings bounced back with pressure, but nothing was getting by Lundqvist. Nothing was getting past Quick either. The crowd was on its feet for the last half of the extra at least – with that much energy in the building it was like we were trying to pour ours into the players. Tofolli got his own crossbar shot with a little over seven minutes to go that had our emotions going the other way – the post giveth, and the post taketh away. There was a stretch of maybe five minutes that seemed like the Kings were half a second away from winning. Then the last three minutes of the first overtime it seemed like the Rangers were half a second away from forcing a game six. A one on one Kreider vs. Quick with 35 seconds to go had Quick actually stand up to redirect the high puck back down away from the net reminiscent of the unfortunate goal last season against the Red Wings when it came back down off the netting to hit Quick’s back and count as a goal – he was having none of that here.

At this point we were adding time to the DVR from our phones hoping to catch every second of the second overtime magic we were sure was leading to a historic moment. We was hungry but too nervous to eat. (Not that it mattered – everything at Staples Center had been shut down before the end of the third period, not anticipating that it was after 9pm when the second overtime started. Tickets said the game started at 5pm.) My favorite tweet of the night: “My autopsy will read and I quote: died of LA Kings Stanley Cup Finals overtime.” Somehow – I’m guessing adrenaline – the players came out still ready to battle. For a long time, it didn’t look like there’d be any give from either team. Either they were both too tired to get a good shot or more likely, neither team was ready to give up on the Cup. Then Kyle Clifford hit Derek Dorsett from behind (he had the puck) and he was called for boarding. The fans didn’t like it. The resulting penalty kill had every heart pumping. It took over 50 seconds for the Kings to clear initially. The Rangers got some great looks. I would not have been Jonathan Quick at this point for all the money in the world. A stick ended up snapped on the ice. Finally the Kings cleared again and the penalty kill was over. Fans were too nervous and excited to be exhausted (that would come later.) A close call half way through the second overtime restored Slava Voynov from any of his earlier transgressions when he blocked a shot from Rick Nash that would have certainly ended up in a for all intents and purposes open net – Quick was still positioned to block a shot from the other side. At 11:41 into the second OT it was officially the longest game this franchise had every played, eclipsing the previous record of 91:40 set the year before in game five of the WCF. You could tell the fatigue of both teams. With 6:47 to go in double OT there had been 100 faceoffs; 51 wins for LA, 49 for the Rangers.

Then came a play you could almost feel was going to be it. Time may have slowed down. Defenseman Alec Martinez streaks down the left side of the ice in the beginnings of a three on two. Passes to left winger Kyle Clifford who passes to an open forward Tyler Tofolli on the right point. He shoots. Henrik Lunqvist stops the first shot. But the rebound is out for anyone to play, and Martinez, who’s made his way to the left of the net, is open. He winds up. And he slaps the puck home. Lundqvist didn’t stand a chance. He was out of his crease facing Tofolli’s shot. Nothing but empty net for Martinez to shoot into. Chaos ensued. Alec Martinez threw up his now infamous jazz hands.The team poured onto the ice. I may have gone deaf. I know I cried. It didn’t matter – the team and their fans were united in a spectacular experience. There were the obligatory handshakes. A devastated Rangers team left the ice. Justin Williams was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy. And then… I can’t describe accurately the beauty of the moment that Cup was carried onto the ice. Two men in white gloves followed a red carpet from the zamboni entrance half way around the edge of the stadium to a podium at center ice. There were the obligatory speeches. NHL Commissioner Garry Bettman’s said ” Like their 2012 championship series, the Kings’ 2014 Cup Finals was marked by a 3-0 series start of winning the first two games in overtime and the third as a shutout. What an incredible end to an incredible season. Thank you to the players, to the teams, and our fans – all of you! These Kings marched through California, defeated the defending Stanley Cup champ, and beat the Rangers in a spectacular Final. It starts at the top with Phil and Nancy Anschulz, Dan Beckerman, Dean Lombardi (*crowd cheers*), Luc Robitaille (*Luuuuuuuuc*), and Daryl Sutter and the coaching staff. But it doesn’t happen without these great players. For the second time in 3 seasons, it’s my honor to present it to Dustin Brown!”
And then Dustin Brown took that glorious Stanley Cup into his hands, hoisted it over his head, and the crowd exploded again. He handed it to Robin Regehr and so on and so on down the line of these 2014 Stanley Cup Champions.

It was a hell of a playoff run. So many milestones. Being the fourth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series? Of course they did. The Kings faced seven elimination games, the most any team in NHL history has ever faced. They had three game seven’s; again the most in NHL history. (In fact no team who played all fourteen games in the first two rounds has ever made it past the next round.) All the game sevens were the road. In 2012 they played close to the least amount of games ever required to win the Stanley Cup – twenty (the record is eighteen set by the Edmonton Oilers in 1988). In 2014, they played the most – twenty-six. (Actually the sixteen teams combined for 93 playoff games, the most since the 92 played in 1991.) But as Drew Doughty (who set his own record – 747:33 minutes played in the post season is the most of any player save goalies) so wonderfully put it – “your heart doesn’t get tired.” So here’s to next season. May our hearts make it through the next few months until the Kings are back in October, ready to make some more history. We want that Cup back Chicago. I mean it is our turn again next year, right?

The ice after a Stanley Cup winning game. Bliss.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!