The NHL playoffs are about teams that get hot at the right time, and at this point there is no one hotter than the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.
After dropping their first two games to the St. Louis Blues, the fifth-place Los Angeles Kings have won six straight games. In their second-round series against the San Jose Sharks, the Kings are up 2-0 and are two wins away from advancing to the Conference Finals for the second straight season.
Let’s take a look at why the Kings are rolling their way to another successful postseason run.
Goaltending
When the Kings won the Cup last season, they did it mostly because of the play of Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick.
Much like last year, Quick is having one heck of a postseason for his hockey club. Quick is 6-2 with a 1.56 GAA (third in the league), a .947 save percentage (third in the league) and two shutouts (first in the league).
While Quick was certainly to blame for the Blues’ overtime goal in Game 1 in the first round, Quick has been nothing short of brilliant since and is one of the main reasons why the Kings are where they are heading into Game 3 against the Sharks.
Stars Stepping Up
In the postseason, a team’s best player is supposed to come up big.
That is exactly what is happening for the Kings this postseason. The team is getting strong play from the likes of Mike Richards (one goal and seven assists for eight points), Jeff Carter (four goals and two assists for six points) and Anze Kopitar (one goal and three assists for four points).
The team has also gotten solid production from Justin Williams (two goals and one assist for three points), Dustin Brown (two goals and one assist for three points), and Dustin Penner (two goals and one assist for three points. With this kind of depth, the Kings are proving to be one of the better remaining teams in this year’s playoffs.
Ability to Come Back
Being able to come back and having the will to never give up in a series despite being down is a sign of a good hockey club.
This is certainly the case for the Los Angeles Kings in this year’s postseason. Despite being down 2-0 and looking overmatched in their first round series with the Blues, the Kings fought back and found a way to win four straight games.
In Game 3 against the Sharks and down by a score of 3-2 with less than two minutes to go, the Kings found a way to win the hockey game by a 4-3 score in regulation time. With a two-man advantage, Kings’ captain Dustin Brown scored with 1:43 to go to tie the game and 22 seconds later, forward Trevor Lewis scored the game winning goal.
It was a game that the Sharks should have won but because the Kings did not quit and cashed in on the opportunities they were given, they were able to win the game and take a 2-0 series lead.
