Kings are Crowned the Cup

From the moment the Kings stepped out onto the ice at the Staples Center last night, the Cup was theirs, and they seemed to know it. They came out fighting, determined not to go back to New Jersey for Game 7, and determined to bring their fans what they’d been waiting 45 years for. They fought hard, they capitalized on a huge power play, and the most improbable team of the year in the NHL took home the Stanley Cup.

That power play came when New Jersey Devils‘ forward, Steve Bernier, threw Rob Scuderi into the boards and received a five-minute major for it. That’s harsh in the Final, it’s harsher when the opposing team scores three goals on that power play — which is just what the Kings did. From then on, it was the L.A. Show and everyone in the building, including the Devils, knew it. The Kings continued to play out the remaining forty-plus minutes of hockey, ultimately beating the Devils 6-1, and bringing the franchise its first ever Stanley Cup.

It’s an incredible end to the incredible run the Kings have had this postseason, after just barely being able to get themselves together in the regular season. But now they’ve made history, and lots of it. They’re the only eighth-seeded team in the league’s history to ever win the Cup. They tied the record for total number of road wins in the playoffs; and they set the record for the most consecutive road victories in the playoffs.

What they’ve done may be described as unbelievable by some; but not by anyone that watched their postseason play out. This is a team that’s proven from the very beginning, when they ousted the first-seeded Vancouver Canucks, that they deserved the Cup. And they didn’t stop fighting until they got it.

Categorized in: NHL