Sports
LA's Coronation
After 45 years, the Los Angeles Kings lay claim to hockey's ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup. Fans across the area, including the San Gabriel Valley celebrate.
The Los Angeles Kings tonight claimed the first Stanley Cup in their 45-season history, winning the championship of the National Hockey League by defeating the New Jersey Devils, 6-1 at Staples Center, winning the best-of-seven final, four games to two.
The Kings scored three goals during a five-minute power play in the first period and Jonathan Quick stopped 17 of 18 shots to lead the Kings to the victory.
Quick was named as the recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player during the playoffs.
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New Jersey defenseman Steve Bernier was assessed a five-minute major for boarding Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi 10 minutes, 10 seconds into the first period and received a mandatory game misconduct.
Dustin Brown scored the Kings' first goal 53 seconds after the penalties off assists by Drew Doughty and Mike Richards. Unlike a two-minute minor penalty, the Devils remained short-handed and Jeff Carter scored the second goal at 12:45 of the first period, with Brown and Richards being credited with assists.
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Trevor Lewis scored nine seconds before the expiration of the major penalty, off assists by Dwight King and Doughty .
Carter increased the Kings' lead to 4-0 1:30 into the second period, with his eighth goal of the playoffs. Brown and Kopitar received the assists.
Quick's bid for a shutout ended at 18:45 of the second period on Adam Henrique's goal off Petr Sykora's assist.
Lewis added an empty net goal with 3:45 left. New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur then returned to the game, giving up an unassisted goal to Matt Greene scored 15 seconds later.
The Stanley Cup capped one of the unlikeliest of playoff runs. The Kings were the eighth and lowest seeded team among the eight Western Conference playoff teams. They upset top-seeded Vancouver in the first round, second- seeded St. Louis in the second and third-seeded Phoenix in the third.
The Kings won each of the first two games of the final, 2-1, in overtime in Newark, N.J. and Game 3 at Staples Center, 4-0. They then became the first team to win the first three games of the final, then lose the next two since the 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs, by losing 3-1 in Game 4 and 2-1 in Game 5.
The championship came during the season when the Kings fired coach Terry Murray on Dec. 12 in the midst of a four-game losing streak which dropped their record to 13-12-4, replacing him eight days later with Darryl Sutter, a former coach of the San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Calgary Flames.
The Kings had made just one other appearance in a Stanley Cup final, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, winning the first game, then losing the next four.
