For the 3rd time in this series, the New York Rangers we're unable to hold a lead in a hockey game. But it didn't start off that way. Los Angeles got on the board first, when at the 06:04 mark of the opening period, Justin Williams found a loose puck in front of the net and scored his 9th of the playoffs. The opening period of play was a pretty even one, with the shots favoring the Kings 7-6. To the middle frame we go, and special teams would be the story of the period.
New York would finally get on the board, at the 15:37 mark of the period, when Chris Kreider scored his 5th goal of the playoffs, this one a powerplay goal. The whole play was set up by some pretty passing by the blueshirts. Ryan McDonagh feed a perfect pass right through onto the tape of Kreider who buried the puck into a wide open net. Then the Rangers strike again, this time on a shorthanded goal, at the 19:30, when Brian Boyle scored his 3rd of the playoffs. This was a case of it had to be a perfect shot. Boyle had a step on teh defense and snapped a high shot over the glove of Qucik, which, at first look, seemed to go off the post and stay out. It was quickly shown that the puck went in and came out quickly.
So on the strength of those two goals, the Rangers carried the lead into the 3rd period. As we have seen oh so often in this series, the Rangers holding a lead into the 3rd period never lasts. It happened in games one and two of this series in Los Angeles, as it would again in game five. LA absolutely dominated the final period, outshooting the Rangers 12-3 in over the final 20 minutes of regulation. In this case however, the Rangers may have a bit of a gripe. At the 7:39 mark of the 3rd, Mats Zuccarello was called for tripping Jake Muzzin of the Kings. Flat out, even I'll admit to this, it was a bad call by the refs. It really shouldn't have been a penalty, they flat out got the call wrong. Either way, the call gave the Kings a powerplay, of which they took full advantage of. At the 7:56 mark, just 17 seconds into the powerplay, Marian Gaborik scored his 14th goal of the playoffs, pulling the Kings even. With as hot a shooter as Gaborik was in this playoffs, he was left alone in front of the net. Hank made the initial save, but nobody was able to really tie up Gaborik in front of the net and he was able to poke in the rebound. So through the rest of regulation we went without anybody being able to find the back of the net.
To overtime we go. Both teams had plenty of quality scoring chances, but were unable to find the back of the net. The Kings outshot the Rangers 12-10 in the first overtime. With nothing decided after the first overtime, we had to go to a second one. The pressure was mounting for both teams. The Rangers desperate to force a game six back at MSG, while the Kings were trying to end the series. It was a battle of wills.
Finally, at the 14:43 mark of the 2nd overtime, everybody's dream as a kid was realized. At that exact moment, this happened:
For Alec Martinez, it was his 5th goal, and hands down his biggest goal, of the 2014 playoffs. Thanks to Martinez heroics, the Kings claim their 2nd Stanley Cup Championship in three seasons, and their 2nd title in franchise history. Justin Williams, the Kings right winger, was award the Conn Smythe trophy as MVP of the playoffs. Williams finished the playoffs with nine goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 26 games, one of those goals was a huge one. One of Williams goals was the game-winning goal in game one of the Cup Finals and he scored the Kings' first in the 3-2 comeback in game five to win the Cup. Williams also had points in all three Game 7 matches the Kings had on the path to the finals.
Congratulations are in order to the Los Angeles Kings, the 2014 Stanley Cup Champions!
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