The Los Angeles Kings, with their impressive 6-1 game six victory
over the New Jersey Devils, finished one of the most dominant and unlikely
Stanley Cup playoff runs in NHL history. The Kings went up 3-0 in each and
every round, which is certainly a comfortable way to progress through the
post-season. This made finishing off each opponent only a matter of time. Now
that the Cup has been officially captured, the NHL and its fans get to absorb
the full reality of a Los Angeles Kings championship. Regardless of how many
years you have been watching hockey, that has to sounds strange. Even their fans
this year had to be pretty surprised as the Kings dominated the first, second,
and third seeds of the western conference with a combined record of 12-2. Their
sudden jump from mediocre to elite came so quickly and with such force that by
the time LA was up 3-0 on the Devils, very few people were still so shocked by
the NHL’s first 8th seed champion.
This past year in sports has given even greater significance
to the concept of just making the playoffs and then getting hot at the right
time. The New York Giants gave up more points than they scored in the 2011
regular season and had the league’s 25th ranked defense. What could
have been foreboding statistics became an unlikely recipe for Super Bowl
champions, all because the Giants tended to their weaknesses and played excellent
defense when it mattered most. In a similar fashion, the Kings may be one of
the more underwhelming Stanley Cup champions on paper. However, the quality of
their run and style of play may have been among the greatest to ever hoist the
cup.
A large part of the Kings 2011-12 story can be told by the
numbers. The biggest star to emerge from this year’s NHL playoffs was LA goalie
Jonathan Quick. While he has only recently become a household name, his level
of excellence is nothing new to LA fans. Quick’s 1.95 goals against average was
the best in hockey, and the Kings team goals against average of 2.07 ranked
second in the NHL. Going into the playoffs, these league leading performances
in net made the Kings a very legitimate threat, but their offensive struggles
were also well documented. Their 2.29 goals per game ranked second to last in
the NHL, making the team as a whole statistically average. Defense may
traditionally win championships, but it was going to take a dramatic increase
on offense to give Quick enough help to make a serious playoff run. Fortunately
for the Kings, their 3 playoff goals per game have made them a considerable
threat on offense and their defense has gone from great to incredible with 1.41 playoff goals per game given up. The numerical changes are clear, but that
still does not fully explain just how the Kings rose to the NHL throne. After
all, the stats are the result of improved play, not the cause.
The Kings owe their change in play to an offensive change in
mindset. As a fan of a team that struggles offensively, I know that even the
best goalie and defense combo are not enough. At the end of the day, you need
to consistently score goals in order to stand a fighting chance. The Kings
spent all year failing to create offense because their passing is not intricate
or skilled enough to maintain possession of the puck. Towards the end of the
regular season, they made the transition to a more aggressive offense. Their
use of what soccer would call through-balls, long passes to free up a fast
break, is by far the best in the NHL. Instead of a more meticulous offense that
involves four or more passes to set up the perfect shot, they throw the deep
ball and utilize their speed. Teams like the Devils go with the more
possession-oriented offense because they can and their players are capable of
the necessary stick handling. The Kings have reformed themselves into a fast-break
machine; their players have the innate ability to find each other from across
the ice and make the big play happen.
The mindset carries over to their defensive play as well. As
a Rangers fan, I am used to a team that packs down around the net. We leave the
point men alone and blocked shots keep the puck out of the net. The weakness in
this system is never possessing the puck and it seems like entire games are
played in our defensive zone. The Kings defense is as aggressive as their offense.
Their centers and wingers fly around the perimeter with a sense of urgency to
dispossess their opponents of the puck as quickly as possible. This often leads
to interceptions around the blue line, which is a nice compliment to a fast
break offense. That sense of urgency is the defining aspect of a Los Angeles
Kings game and it overwhelmed every opponent they faced in the playoffs.
The Kings may not have been the most talented team in hockey,
but they proved to be the best team by far. They knew their strengths and
utilized them to create a system that no opponent could survive. It took the
Eastern Conference Champions to just win two games. The decisive game six was a
fitting end to their historic playoff run, because it symbolized everything
that made them great. They worked harder, played great defense and seized every
opportunity they earned. They won the games in which they were the better team
(an underrated ability) and in the first two Stanley Cup games, they proved
they could even win when they were outplayed. They beat the number one, two and
three western teams and then beat a Devils team that was better than any of
them. I enjoyed the beginning of this series as a bitter Rangers fan, and any
fan who does not route for a neutral team over one that just beat them is
shamelessly lying. However, by the end I also enjoyed this series and
appreciated the Kings’ run as a hockey fan privileged enough to see the most
impressive NHL playoff performance I have ever seen.
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