Congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings you are now officially the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions! Defeating  the New Jersey Devils with a final score of 6-1.

The most beautiful trophy in all of sports (Flickr/cupcanal)

This is going to go down in history as one of the greatest cup runs the National Hockey League has ever seen. After a disapointing Game 4 and 5, the Kings come out with a a taste for blood. The second that Rob Scuderi started bleeding the Kings did not look back! 3 power play goals came from the misconduct on Steve Bernier, a hit we will behearing about for a long time.

What an unbelievably important move it was adding Jeff Carter to the roster! Notching 2 goals tonight, he was a huge reason the Kings were able to pull of this amazing run.

Devils fans thought that saw a comback in the making when Adam Henrique put a rebound past Jonathan Quick with 1:15 left in the 2nd period. Followed shortly by a Dustin Penner penalty, but once again the Kings penalty kill shut the door. From that point on the Devils were “Done like dinner.”

No suprise Quick wins the Conn Smythe Trophy, he was definitely the MVP of these playoffs hands down. Plus what a pleasure it was to watch Dustin Brown’s magnificently greasy beard raise that unreal trophy!

Congratulations!! Enjoy the Cup boys and try not to break it!!

Post Script will someone tell the LA camera guys to get out the way of the cup!

An Organization LA can be proud of! (Flickr/underactive)

24 hours before the Kings take the ice with an opportunity to win their first ever Stanley Cup, they make headlines for something completely unrelated to hockey. Monday night Angel Cortez a 14 month old boy was playing in front of his house with his dad, when a teenage boy rode up and open fired on the two. Mauro Cortez tried his best to shield his son, but the damage had already been done. Angel passed away later that evening. The Kings along with 2,000 Acts of Hope have donated $50,000 to help find Cortez’s killer. The Kings released this statement:

The announcement was made by Kings Governor Timothy J. Leiweke during the launch of the 2,000 Acts of Hope charitable initiative in Los Angeles earlier today.

“During such an exciting time such as this we can’t lose sight of the importance and responsibility we all share in keeping our community safe,” said Leiweke. “Our players and staff feel a tremendous obligation to do everything we can to help find who committed this terrible act of irresponsibility and hopefully this can contribute to the effort to acquire the information necessary to find who did this and make sure everyone knows this is unacceptable in our city.”

What is 2,000 Acts of Hope? Good question, it is a chartiable initiative that is being launched by AEG, which is the group that owns the Kings. This initiative is counting down the 2,000 days that will lead up to the opening of Farmers Field football stadium. This is a great cause to launch the initiative, and also highlights the wonderful things the Kings and their staff are doing to help make their community a better place.

The Cortez family was robbed of something very precious, something that no amount of money will ever bring back. Hopefully thanks to the Kings donation the killer will be found, that is the only thing that might bring this family piece of mind. Even with everything the Kings have going on right now, they still take the time to remind us what is really important, and with this act of kindness there is hope for a family in need of just that.

Holy mustache the Stanley Cup will be in the building on Wednesday, BRING YOUR WHITE GLOVES! The Kings dominate Game 3 with a 4-0 win over the New Jersey Devils! I will say coming from Minnesota you know what “hockey atmosphere” acutally is and in all honesty LA did not disappoint!

Mainly because the Kings dominated!

How about that Jonathan Quick, tonight was his 3rd Playoff Shutout and a well deserved one! He only had to make a few difficult saves, but he did not let anything go either. His rebounds were the most controlled I have seen throught these playoffs and he was yet again star numero uno!

Johnny B Quick Johhny B Goode!

Casper no more! (Flickr/Britney Samuels)

Jeff Carter has been pretty much invisble since Game 2 Against the Coyotes, but he seems to have a bone to pick against the Devils because he has been unbelievable the past 2 games!

Here is the thing Game 1 and Game 2 could have gone either way, but they didn’t. Now Game 3 is completely domintated by the Kings and people seem to be shocked… I call bullshit! The Kings have been the most consistent team throughout the playoffs, for crying out loud they have only lost 2 games!

NO MORE NEED TO BE IN SHOCK!

Here’s the the thing if Dustin Brown want’s to go grab that beautiful trophy here is what needs to happen…

EVERYTHING THEY DID IN GAME 3!

Power Play needs to be effective, forecheck needs to be effective, and defense needs to be effective. When the best player on your team lays down in the first period and blocks a shot that is when you know that a different level of commitment has been reached. The players want this the fans want this, the last thing that needs to be done is to win the damn thing!

We want the real Cup in LA (Waltarrrr/Flickr)

As if there has not been enough anticipation for the Stanley Cup Finals, fans are forced to wait 2 days in between Game 1 and Game 2. Thankfully tonight is the night! The Kings look to continue their unbeaten road streak in New Jersey.

So going into tonight’s game there are 3 things the Kings need to continue to do in order to win tonight.

#1 Continue the vicious forecheck they have been throwing at the Devils, and everyone else they have encountered in the Playoffs! This is actually the Kings bread and butter right now, they are able to throw 3 forecheckers at the opposing defense, which forces them to inevitably scramble and make mistakes. Since the Kings defense is playing so well each of these forecheckers has full confidence that if the puck gets behind them their will be someone there to make the stop.

#2 The Power Play needs to score! The Kings haven’t scored a Power Play goal since game 2 against Phoenix. They have had a less than stellar PP throughout the Playoffs, but if they can get a goal or 2 from the PP doors will begin to open and the offense can really steamroll.

#3 Continue to use their size and make clean smart hits. Just watch Jordan Nolan in this clip and you will understand what I am talking about.

The Kings have a reputation for taking Game 2 into their own hands: 4-1 win vs Vancouver, 5-2 win vs St. Louis, and 4-0 win vs Phoenix. Tune in tonight and see what happens against the Devils at 7 pm CST.

Tonight is the night hockey fans, finally we have to the Stanley Cup Finals. How many Kings fans thought this was possible in February? Did I just hear crickets? Good joke I know!

I have been chatting with people about this all week and everyone seems to think this is going to be an epic battle of the goaltenders Jonathan Quick and Martin Brodeur.

King Quick (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

Martin being Martin (C.P. Storm/Flickr)

They just might be right, but there is one fundamental difference between these two goaltenders, one has been to the Stanley Cup Finals and the other has not. Only time will tell if this is going to be a factor or not. I personally don’t think it will be a very big deal. Herb Brooks said that, “great moments are built out of great opportunities,” that’s what the Kings and Quick have earned.

Penner the Hero (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

The Los Angeles Kings will be returning the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993. What a great game, though I will be honest not the prettiest ending. Nonetheless the Campbell Trophy is ours not to touch! The final score is Kings 4 Coyotes 3 in OT!

Dustin Penner is the unsung hero of Game 5 this evening with a key assist on Mike Richards goal, and no big deal the game winner in OT, which happened to send the Kings to the Finals. BOOM!

An in-depth recap will be up tomorrow right now it is bed time in the midwest. CELLY HARD TONIGHT FANS!

Finally he has arrived (bloodyeyeballs/Flickr)

Welcome to the Los Angeles Kings Jeff Carter! How about that the depth of the Kings gets deeper every single game. The Kings win Game 2, 4-0 Carter gets a hat trick and Quick gets a shutout… not too shabby! I was overly excited to say the least when I saw that Carter finally was able to get on the board again. This team just continues to get better and elevate their game to new levels, I love being a Kings fan!

I would say that I feel bad for the Coyotes, but I really don’t. I am actually happy they are becoming collateral damage.

As stated before I was unable to pysically watch the game, instead I looked at my phone every 5 minutes looking for updates, and thanks to Steve Jobs I had no problem getting them. So I am not really going to over analyze because I think it is pretty obvious, the Kings are just simply out playing the Coyotes from top to bottom.

Now the two teams head back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday. The Coyotes will be without Martin Hanzel, the department of player safety released today that he will be suspended for 1 game. I have seen the hit and the explanation and definitely agree that 1 game is a sufficent punishment for this hit. I think Game 3 will have no shortage of penalties either, the Yotes are frusterated and if the Kings continue to out work and out play them then the tension will just be elevated between these two teams.

Since I did not see the complete game I will not being doing Highs and Lows, I know sad.

On the road again (Moyan Brenn/Flickr)

The Kings are looking to extend their win streak on the road to 7-0, tonight in Phoenix. I can tell you one thing the Kings will not be taking their foot off the gas. If they extend their streak tonight they will have yet another single postseason record.

Game 1 was very interesting because it was the first time in the Playoffs that Jonathan Quick was not the best player on the ice, but they still found a way to win the game. This is a team game and the Kings were able to show what kind of a team they really are, which is a hell of a good one!

Here are my 3 Highs and 3 Lows vs the Phoenix Coyotes:

High #1- Dustin Brown’s preformance was once again stellar, he had a goal and an assist, took 7 shots and had 6 hits. Oh and he scored the game winner again! The Brown-Kopitar-Williams line is just really playing well right now, I honestly don’t know how they can be stopped. Good thing they are on our team!

High #2- 48 shots on net! The Kings are shooting the puck and that’s definitely what you have to do against a good goalie like Mike Smith. If you get pucks on net they will eventually go in and the Kings did a great job of that in Game 1.

High #3- The Kings forecheck. When you have great defense and a productive offense you are able to take a few more risks with your forecheck and that is the luxury the Kings have right now. They are able to attack the puck like a shark attacks chum. They just don’t stop attacking. Look for them to be even more aggressive tonight and I bet they will be rewarded for it.

Low #1- Jonathan Quick’s performance, I am not at all worried about this, but it was a fact he did not play well. That being said he did improve his play in the 3rd period so I do not think he will be giving up another soft goal any time soon.

Low #2- No conversion on the Power Play, the Kings went 0-4 on the Power Play (They also killed all 5 of the Coyotes PP’s), both teams have great defense, whoever can break through on the PP will have a big advantage over the other.

Low #3- Stay out of the box, this is simple we need to stay out of the box.

Game time is 8:00 pm, CT. This will be the first game I am not going to be able to watch. I will be attending the Black Keys concert at the Target Center! I am sure that I will have no problem staying updated! The Lucky shirt is also still undefeated and unwashed. I will be wearing it to the concert like a dirtball!

I feel as though I have been waiting years for this game, but in reality it’s only been a week… could have fooled me. Anyway the stage is set for the puck to drop at 7 pm CT. Happy Mother’s Day to all the hockey moms out there!

Since the Kings have knocked out the #1 seed, oh and the #2 seed it is only fitting that they go for the trifecta and go head to head with the #3 seed, and knock them out as well.

Here is what we have:

Killer Defense… Jonathan Quick & Drew Doughty

Down time (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

Powerful Offense… Dustin Brown & Anze Kopitar

21 combined points (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

SHORT HANDED GOALS! Do we need anything else???

This is what it’s all about, let’s do this thing Kings!

Because it's haunted our dreams (Vlasta Juricek/Flickr)

PARTICIPATE IN THE BEARD-A-THON if you can grow a beard, and if you can’t then make a beard on a stick!

I can and will be chirping Mike Smith on Twitter tonight, @kingsandi32, recap to follow the game!

Hello Kings fans, my apologies for not being on the ball lately, excuses are like asses and elbows everyone has one! So now that I got that off my chest let’s talk about hockey. I wish I could enter a sound file in there so I could let everyone hear my best midwestern meshed with Canadian accent… OH WELL. 

I don’t know about you guys but I am very happy to be facing the Phoenix Coyotes, even though Mike Smith has been playing great, I believe they are a beatable team. Look for the Kings to get a goal on a misplay by Smith behind the net. The team that makes the least amount of mistakes in their own end is going to be the team that wins this series, and I believe that Kings will be that team.

I like this series because it will be Los Angeles first Conference finals in 19 years, and the Coyotes first ever in their 33 year franchise history.

Here is the down low on these 2 teams this past season they played six games and each won 3. BUT 2 of the 3 Coyotes wins came in extra minutes, while the Kings shut the Coyotes out twice. So look for this one to go in OT a lot!

The Western Conference Final opens Sunday, May 13, at 5 pm (PT) when the Coyotes will host the Kings. Game 2 of the series will be played on Tuesday, May 15, beginning at 6  p.m., PT.

FEEL THE ANTICIPATION!!