Kings rule NHL again
Los Angeles wins its second Cup in three years with a double OT win over the Rangers.
It wasn’t so much Friday the 13th as Fright Night in the town that gives us all those horror movies.
In fact, where the New York Rangers live, it was already Saturday morning when they stepped onto the ice for the second overtime period at the Staples Center, having put the fear of Game 6 into the Los Angeles Kings.
The very last thing the Kings wanted, after leading the series 3- 0, was to have to go back to New York and try to stop the modest little roll the Rangers were threatening to mount.
So along with the joy, there was considerable relief when Henrik Lundqvist, so brilliant all night in the New York nets, kicked out Tyler Toffoli’s rebound right onto the stick of Alec Martinez, and the 26- yearold defenceman rifled the puck into the open left side at 14: 43 of double overtime for a 3- 2 victory and a five- game dismissal of New York in the Stanley Cup Final.
“It was a loose puck in our own end. I just wanted to get it up into the forwards’ hands, let them do their thing,” said Martinez, who also scored the overtime winner in Game 7 of the Western Conference Final in Chicago.
“Our coaching staff, they always encourage the D to join the rush. That’s what I tried to do. I was just fortunate for it to come on my stick and able to put it in. After it went in I think I blacked out. I think I tossed my gear. I’m just so happy for these guys.”
At the end of a spectacular evening’s entertainment, of a game that had so many traded chances and narrowly missed opportunities, Gary Bettman presented the Stanley Cup to Kings’ captain Dustin Brown for the second time in three years, and the fans hardly even booed the NHL commissioner.
Justin Williams, the clutch third- line forward who led the Cup final in scoring, was voted winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Both goalies were tremendous, and tremendously lucky. In a series in which bounces were so much of the conversation, each got the benefit of their posts and crossbars in a game that left the sellout crowd drained and giddy.
“It was a hard- fought game. I mean, every inch on the ice was contested real hard. Both teams were battling at an unreal level,” said Rangers’ coach Alain Vigneault. “All three games here, when you look at it, they all went to overtime. Tough loss.”
It may not be too early to start whispering the D- word — dynasty — in connection with the Kings, who look to have the ingredients of a powerhouse for some time to come.
They did nothing the easy way all through the season and playoffs, finishing among the lowest- scoring teams in the NHL, needing seven games in each of their first three rounds against San Jose, Anaheim and Chicago, so it was probably no surprise that they needed nearly five periods — and three overtime games out of five — to finish off the Rangers, whom they outshot 51- 30.
“Well, we did it a different way in 2011, winning as the road team every time,” said head coach Darryl Sutter. “During the Olympics, all I thought about was, ‘ How are we going to beat Chicago?’ Then Dean ( GM Lombardi) got Gaborik, we were able to put the kids ( Toffoli and Tanner Pearson) in and we went from there.
“It takes a lot of effort and will, but I think once you’ve done it as a group, as a nucleus, they know how to gut it out … it showed up again tonight. You’ve got to give this team a lot of credit. Tonight was their 26th ( playoff) game and with all the overtimes, it was probably close to 30 since the middle of April. You got to give these guys full marks.”
Lundqvist was blameless on the game’s opening goal when he made at least three saves in a mad scramble around the Ranger net before the ubiquitous Williams swooped in and dragged the puck one- handed through the pile. Somehow it slid under and past the New York goaltender, who was being pitchforked backward by Jarret Stoll.
After that, it looked as though the Kings weren’t going to be able to get a BB past King Henrik.
“I knew going into this series it was going to end in tears: tears of joy or tears of heartbreak,” said Lundqvist. “It’s extremely tough.”
The Rangers played a fast, hard game, matched the home team’s tenacity on pucks, and eventually the hard work paid off. Late in the second period, they scored both on the power play and short- handed.
Defenceman Ryan McDonagh threaded a neat pass through the crease and found Chris Kreider uncovered at the back post with Dwight King serving a high- sticking minor at 15: 37, but it was Brian Boyle’s goal with 29.6 seconds left in the period that hushed the sellout.
A neutral zone turnover produced a mini 2- on- 1, and Carl Hagelin sent the 6- foot- 7, 244pound Boyle away with Drew Doughty alone to defend. Boyle strode to his left and snapped a shot that caught a piece of Doughty’s stick and sneaked just inside the crossbar- goalpost junction over Quick’s glove.
It looked ominous for the Kings until the puck was dropped for the third period, and then the team DNA kicked in, and in short order they began swarming the New York end.
Lundqvist was magnificent, making consecutive glove saves on Willie Mitchell and Jake Muzzin, but finally a Doughty shot from the top of the right circle — with Mats Zuccarello in the box for tripping Muzzin — handcuffed him and Marian Gaborik pounced on the rebound, slapping it from between the goalie’s pads to tie it at 7: 56.
The rest of the period was a survival ordeal for the Rangers, who never did figure out how to handle the Kings in third periods.
Or overtimes, for that matter.
The Kings, who won Games 1 and 2 in extra time, thoroughly dominated the first overtime period Friday but also gave up a few five- alarm chances. Each team rang a shot off the iron — McDonagh under Quick’s glove and off the post at 4: 42, Tyler Toffoli over Lundqvist’s shoulder and off the crossbar at 12: 50 — and both goaltenders had to be extra good. They traded goalposts again in the second overtime, deflections by Zuccarello for the Rangers and Carter for the Kings.
Martinez, whose overtime goal that dethroned the 2013 champion Blackhawks hit a couple of bodies on the way in, didn’t come close to missing this time.
Asked what he saw on the winning goal, Williams said, “I saw a team determined not to go back to New York. I couldn’t be prouder of every single one of these guys on this team.
“Marty has scored so many big goals … he’s a huge part of this team.”