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!

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!

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.

BIG D!!

So far in these playoffs the Los Angeles Kings have exceed almost all expectations, even the most loyal of fans did not see this coming… or maybe they did? Nonetheless here we are up 3 games to zip against the Presidents Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks. It almost seems as though they can do nothing right and we can do nothing wrong. What those of us don’t realize is that the Kings defensive abilities are amongst the best in the league and they should not be taken lightly.

The Kings ended the 2011-2012 Regular Season ranked 13th in the NHL, and as you begin to dissect their team statistics quite a few stand out.

First they ranked 4th in the league in Penalty Kill % at 87.03%. Right now one of the main reasons they have the Canucks on the brink of elimination is because they have completely shut their Power Play down. They have successfully killed all 17 of the Canucks PP’s, this is just impressive! The reason is two-fold because the Kings have a clearly demonstrated a great kill all season, so that is the first thing. The second thing is the Canucks are without Daniel Sedin, which has put everything out of sync for them. If the Kings take care of business tomorrow night then we will not see D. Sedin in these playoffs. I would be 100% okay with that!

Second the obvious Jonathan Quick is playing at the top of his game. He is moving laterally, controlling rebounds, challenging shooters and taking away everything down low. What makes him and the rest of the Kings dangerous defensively is that they are used to playing very tight games. 41 games they played in this season were decided by 1 goal in either regulation, OT or a shootout. As we all know and have seen these playoff games are tight, and typically decided by 1 goal. Clearly the Kings have been well trained and are accustomed to the pressures of these situations.

The Kings defensively are the most dangerous team in the playoffs, plain and simple.

Lastly, the statistic they have seemed to turn around is their ability to put the puck in the net. They ranked 29th out of 30 teams in the NHL, the only team worse is none other than the Minnesota Wild, way to go State of Hockey. Thus far in the playoffs they rank 4th, this is a definite improvement. The reason for this boost in scoring is pretty basic actually, when they added forward Jeff Carter to the line-up they evened out their lines. Making their 1st and 2nd lines dangerous to opponents, while also taking the pressure off the first line. This allows for the scoring to become spread amongst the lines and also takes the pressure off your goaltender and defensemen!

What it really comes down to is the will to win and peaking at the right time, and the Kings are definitely doing exactly that! We will see what happens tomorrow at 9:00 pm central time!

Richardson in for Carter (Flickr/Bridget Samuels)

Tonight the Los Angeles Kings will play the Edmonton Oilers, the second worst team in the NHL. Unfortunately the Kings have not had much luck against the Oilers this season, losing the last two match-ups earlier in the year. This game is an absolute must win for the Kings. If they can win tonight they will be back in a position to take the Pacific Division lead from the Dallas Stars.

Since I seem to have terrible luck with my predictions I am just going to stop… Instead I will just keep everyone up to date on what’s happening in the West. The two important games besides the Kings are the Colorado Avalanche vs Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars vs Vancouver Canucks. So just keep an eye on those bad boys and we will see what happens!

Tonight the big news is no Jeff Carter, he sustained an ankle injury in Wednesdays win and didn’t practice yesterday. So the Kings will have to get the win tonight without the help of Carter. This is not yet devastating news, but let’s just hope he is only out for the weekend and not long term. The Kings are definitely a better team with him than without him. Taking his place will be Brad Richardson, after being a healthy scratch for the majority of the season, Richardson has an opportunity to step up and fill in for Carter.

The puck drops tonight at 9:30 pm eastern time and 8:30 pm central, it’s going to be a late one folks so try and stay up so you don’t miss any of the action!

The Los Angeles Kings took the first of 3 games against the San Jose Sharks last night, winning 5-2!!! BOOM ROASTED! This was a big win fans not that I need to remind you about the extremely tight race we are in with hmmm 5 teams in the Western conference!!

Let’s talk about some of the good things that happened last night… Kings win! The Kings are now sitting on the correct side of the line in 8th place, but don’t jump for joy just yet we are still tied with the Phoenix Coyotes. Which also means the Kings and Coyotes only trail the Division leading Dallas Stars by 1 point. Unfortunately I think I jinxed the games yesterday because both the Colorado Avalanche vs Calgary Flames and Coyotes vs Stars went into OT last night. OH and the Chicago Blackhawks won… What the heck! Despite everything going wrong with the other games in the Conference, the Kings did everything right! Let’s focus on that shall we…

PLAY BIG! (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

Mike Richards started the scoring with a short handed snipe! BUT the celebration was short lived as Marty Havlat came right back down and converted on the PP for the Sharks. The Kings played a very physical 1st period and continued just buzzing the Sharks in the 2nd. Which lead to Alec Martinez breaking the tie sending the Kings into the locker room ahead heading into the 3rd. In my opinion this was the key goal for the Kings they really worked hard and wore down the Sharks and they really needed to get something out of that. Martinez’s goal was just what the Doctor ordered.

Anze Kopitar had another fabulous game with a goal and 2 assists, he now has 7 points in the last 4 games! Dustin Penner also added an insurance goal with 4:06 left in the 3rd, giving the Kings some breathing room! The Kings are playing great hockey right now from top to bottom. The added offense provided by Jeff Carter is really an important addition to the Kings, it has taken the pressure off the top line and allowed them to play their game.

The Kings have a night to rest tonight before taking on the St. Louis Blues @ Home Thursday night. NO Stressing tonight fans, let’s save that for Thursday!

The Los Angeles Kings fire back in a big way with a  5-2  win tonight, against the Detroit Red Wings! The scoring nearly started with Jarret Stoll when he split the D and tried to put the puck low past Jimmy Howard, unfortunately Howard was there to make the save. A few minutes later Howard shut the door again when he stacked the pads on a Jeff Carter attempt. The Kings continued to buzz the net and it paid of when Dustin Brown got the puck to Drew Doughty who was able to get the puck on net so that Justin Williams could bang it home!

STAT ALERT: Brown has extended his point streak to 9 games!

Everyone pitches in (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

Minutes later during a Wings power play Anze Kopitar catches Howard slightly off his angle and snipes. Adding to another impressive Kings statistic they have successfully killed 32 consecutive penalties. Go Defense! The Wings took advantage of a neutral zone mistake by Williams and made it a 2-1 game. Henrik Zetterberg made a great move selling the shot to Jonathan Quick giving Jiri Hudler a great look at the net for the score.

Mike Richards goal at 9:03 of the 2nd period was HUGE the Kings were running around and needed to get the control back and Richards goal did that. I truly believe that a 2 goal lead is the worst in hockey, but I would much rather go into the 3rd 3-1 than 2-1! For good measure Slava Voynov added a power play goal, but if fans learned anything from the last Kings vs Wings game is that it’s not over until the fat lady sings… Johan Franzen tried to bring the Wings within striking distance, but it just was not enough. The Kings killed off key penalties, scored big goals and kept their composure in the 3rd period. All in all it was a great night at the Staples Center!

The Kings are now in a 4 way tie for 8th place! More playoff updates to come tomorrow!!

Still a Blue Jacket (5of7/Flickr)

Well todays NHL Trade Deadline came and went, and Rick Nash is still the Captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite requesting to be traded back in January the Blue Jackets held on to their star forward. So there were no fireworks today, but there were plenty of moves made through out the NHL. If my math is correct 56 players changed jerseys this year and 28 transactions were made between teams. The Los Angeles Kings only got in on a little bit of the action on February 23rd when they acquired Jeff Carter from Columbus for Jack Johnson and a first round pick.

Only time will tell if this risky move taking on Carters long and high paying salary will pay off. Personally I am excited to see what tonights game in Nashville has in store for Carter and the rest of the Kings. Especially since the Kings decided not to trade Dustin Brown (after Saturdays display why would you?). The Kings have taken 5 of the last 6 meetings against Nashville and hope to take another tonight.

Nashville made a couple of moves today acquiring Andrei Kostitsyn from the Montreal Canadians, reuniting him with his brother Sergei Kostitsyn. The Predators also added Paul Gaustad from the Paul Gaustad  in exchange for a first-round pick. BUT both will not be on the ice against the Kings tonight, instead they will be meeting up with their new team in Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday.

Tonight proves to be a great match-up between the Kings and Predators, and if stats could talk they would definitely say that both the Kings and Predators starting net minders do not play well against each other. Pekka Rinne has 3.65 GAA and lost 3 straight to the Kings. While Jonathan Quick has yet to beat the Nashville Predators as he is 0-3-1 against them, most likely he will still be in net. I predict Quick will make an improvement on this statistic TONIGHT!!!

The Kings hope to build on the momentum from Saturday to propel them past the Dallas Stars and back into a playoff position.

3 for the money 1 for the show! (Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

The Los Angeles Kings shutout the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 Saturday at the Staples Center. During a second period bench interview Kings Captain Dustin Brown put it best “1 goal or 4 goals doesn’t matter as long as we get 2 points.” Dustin I could not put it better myself, and tonight the Kings played hard from start to finish for those 2 points.

Brown had a hand in each of the Kings goals tonight against the Blackhawks, scoring 2 in the first period and one in the second to finish off his natural hat trick. Brown’s 3rd goal came off a pass from Willie Mitchell chipping it up to Brown for a short-handed goal. A few minutes later Brown returns the favor and Mitchell navigated traffic putting the puck past an unsuspecting Corey Crawford. Great to see Mitchell grace the score sheet after getting a two-year extension from the Kings.

Crawford was pulled and Ray Emery took position between the pipes and finished the game strong in net for the Hawks. Although the Kings didn’t get any past Emery they definitely did not take their foot off the gas. The Kings had great opportunities and hit a few pipes, but the scoring chances were there! 2 other Kings with great performances tonight were as always the talented Jonathan Quick making 19 saves to secure tonights shutout (7th of the season, leading NHL) and Jarret Stoll with 3 assists, playing an instrumental role in the Kings offense tonight. Jeff Carter was a bit overshadowed by his new teammates tonight but I’m sure he didn’t mind since they got the 2 points they wanted!

Tonight was a statement by the Kings - they may be down but they are certainly not out, and the race for a playoff position is certainly on! The Kings are back on track, currently in 9th place with 68 points right behind the Dallas Stars. The Kings go on the road tomorrow to play the Nashville Predators, and I am sure there will be plenty of trades by the time the final buzzer sounds…

Reunited and it feels so good! (Photo: neat1325/Flickr)

The month of February has not been kind to the Los Angeles Kings thus far, in their 11 games played this month they are 3-6-2 and have been shutout 3 times. They are now finding themselves in a dog fight for 8th place in the Western Conference. With the Kings off until Saturday things could get quite interesting. Currently they are  2 points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche…BUT have fallen into 10th place behind the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames (All tied at the 66 point marker).

20/20 hind site the previous 5 games would have been a great point to go on a win streak not a losing one boys! But that point is moot so moving on…

The reason I say things will be getting interesting is because while the Kings get their act together the Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 and the Flames and Phoenix Coyotes went to battle on Thursday night, leaving the Coyotes victorious in a shoot out. Moral of the story is the Kings now see themselves sitting in 10th place.

Keeping things extra interesting through the weekend, there is also the looming trade deadline on Monday, February 27th. It is not a secret in the National Hockey League that the Kings are in need of a serious offensive boost, or they just might find themselves on the wrong side of the Playoff line. Which would make me and all of the rest of the Kings fans very unhappy campers!!

Last night fans got some good news as the Kings acquired Jeff Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets, reuniting him with former Philadelphia Flyer teammate Mike Richards. Although Carter has had some set backs with injuries this season he should add a boost of offense the Kings need to pull themselves out of this slump. The Kings traded defensemen Jack Johnson and a conditional first round pick to the Blue Jackets. Carter has the potential to add speed and has proven goal-scoring abilities, but will also bring great leadership and playoff experience to this young Kings roster.

I am thinking it might be a long shot, to get big shot Rick Nash also from the Blue Jackets (for goaltender Jonathan Bernier). BUT stranger things have happened!!! So here is to hoping if not for Nash, please, please, please someone put the biscuit in the basket Carter!