Back in Los Angeles, the King’s qualified for the 2014 playoffs and after being down 3-0 against the hated San Jose Sharks, an idea that coach Sutter had at the end of the regular season was put into play. That was to take the struggling Mike Richards (who was being outplayed by Shark centers Joe Thornton (yes him again) and Joe Pavelski) and drop him to the fourth line and be replaced with Carter as the second line center. On his wings, would be the young and inexperienced Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson. This was the beginning of the popular and infamous “That 70’s line” (named after the numbers on the player’s back which were all in the 70s). This line proved troublesome for not only the Sharks but the rest of the teams that the Kings faced in these playoffs as the Kings stormed back against San Jose and won the series 4-3 in a historical comeback (only 3 teams in the history of the NHL had ever accomplished a 3-0 comeback, the last time was Philadelphia in 2010. A team which had Jeff Carter and Mike Richards on the roster).
With their speed and offensive unpredictability, Carter led the 2 young players against the second lines of the powerful Anaheim Ducks, defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks and Eastern Conference Champion New York Rangers. None of these teams came up with an answer to contend or shut down the dominant Carter line. With them being on the second line (but don’t tell coach Sutter that you’re calling it the second line as he hates it when anyone puts a number on any of his lines) most teams would put their top line against Anze Kopitar’s line. Kopitar, along with trade deadline acquisition Marian Gaborik and Captain Dustin Brown were extremely dangerous on their own so these opposing teams already had their hands full and weren’t prepared (or lacked the depth) to deal with Carter’s line as well. What ended up happening was “That ‘70’s line” steamrolling over their opponents while the opposing top line was recovering on the bench. This was most noticeable against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Final. Chicago, a team with 2 Stanley Cups in the last 4 seasons and a team that took deep pride with their own depth, struggled badly in the match up. In hindsight, the Hawks second line led by former King Michael Handzus had no chance against a determined and continuous blitzkrieg attack from Jeff Carter and his young apprentices.
When all the smoke cleared and the Los Angeles Kings were victorious with their record-breaking run to the Cup, Jeff Carter stood tall finishing the 2014 playoffs in second place with 10 goals and 25 points, one point less than leading scorer and teammate Anze Kopitar. The Kings won their second Stanley Cup in franchise history in game 5 of the New York series in double overtime when Toffoli’s rebound was caught and put in by defenseman Alec Martinez in historic fashion. What shouldn’t be forgotten was how Carter came extremely close to finishing the series himself twice late in this game. First, with seconds to go before overtime, when Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made a desperate diving save as Carter did a wrap around and the puck hovered on the goal line. The second was when Carter hit the post early in the second overtime period after a blistering rush. If fatigue was a factor for a lot of the players in this double overtime, Carter didn’t show an ounce of it as he continued his relentless attack over, and over again.
If the knock on Carter in the past was that he didn’t give his all in games or that he was only a one-dimensional player, that myth had now been finally laid to rest to those that were actually paying attention. Throughout the entire 2014 playoffs, along with the Sochi Olympics, the 2013 and 2014 regular seasons and playoffs, and even with the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, Jeff Carter played like a man possessed with a serious chip on his shoulder. He constantly hustled to loose pucks, attacked the net with determination, back checked with precision, won face offs with excellent timing, unselfishly set up teammates and even became a leader and role model to not only the young and impressionable athletes like Toffoli and Pearson but to the entire Los Angeles Kings team as well.
Carter always had this talent and potential in him but none of it had been fully realized until he became a Los Angeles King. I will grant that perhaps in the past he didn’t always have the best attitude or gave his best effort and it created a stigma towards and about him. If in 2011, Jeff Carter was immature and selfish and this made him a scapegoat to the Philadelphia Flyers organization and media, to the point that he needed to be banished out-of-town, in 2014 Jeff Carter had become a gamebreaker and a leader, one who stands out on a team already full of game breakers and leaders. If in 2011 it was well-known that Carter and Mike Richards were uncontrollable wild party animals, in 2014 they now live rather quiet and behaved personal lives off the ice, where Carter has even settled down and got married (with absolutely no publicity) to long time girlfriend Megan Keffer. What ever happened in Philadelphia and in Columbus and whatever stigma Jeff Carter then had, is now irrelevant today. Today Jeff Carter has matured and blossomed into a well-rounded superstar.
