Category: NHL

After 94 minutes of tense hockey Alec Martinez’s shot slid past the pads of Henrik Lundvquist and hit the back of the net to signal the end of overtime and the start of the NHL champions celebration in L.A. “After it went in, I think I blacked out,” Martinez said. “I’m just so happy for these guys.” Martinez scored 14:43 into OT and the Kings won their 2nd Stanley Cup in three years with a 3-2 double-OT victory over the New York Rangers.”We have a team that simply will not be denied,” said Justin Williams, Conn Smyth trophy(basically postseason MVP)winner “Every Cup is special. What we went through in 2012 (versus) what we went through this year, huge difference, and we really earned it.”

The last goal started with Kyle Clifford passing the puck to Tyler Toffoli, Toffoli missed but the rebound came straight to Martinez who netted it for the game, series, and championship winner as the Kings clinched their 2nd title in 3 years. “I don’t know if we’re part of (a dynasty) yet, but hopefully we’re on our way to that,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “I believe this group could be at that point, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

The Kings hoisted the trophy just a month after being down 3 games to none against the San Jose Sharks in the first round.”This time around, we didn’t have time to think about `My God, we’ve been playing elimination games so many times,” defenseman Willie Mitchell said. “I guess that’s probably the difference, that we were on the brink so many times playing really good teams. So that’s pretty cool.”

The confetti that signified a Stanley Cup champion remained inside the cannons, for now. Down 3-0 in the best-of-7 series against the LA Kings New York fought back on their home ice, showing signs of life for the first time all series in a 2-1 victory in which goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves for a .976 save Pct.”When everything is on the line, you just have to challenge yourself the right way,” Lundqvist said. “You have to be focused. One mistake and the season is over. You’re definitely aware of that.” The Rangers are trying to become the 2nd team ever to erase a 3-0 hole in the Stanley Cup finals and go on to win the cup.”It’s not impossible,” Lundqvist said.

Benoit Pouliot and Martin St. Louis each scored for the Rangers and Dustin Brown chipped one in for the Kings.”We wanted to close it out tonight and we weren’t able to do it,” Kings forward Anze Kopitar said. “Now we have a desperate team coming into our building.” As Kopitar said Game 5 will be in LA.

Twice in the game the Kings got the puck on the line bu couldn’t get it all the way across. “I was just holding my breath,” Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi said. “All those guys in the crease did a great job to keep it out.”

Just 15 minutes into Game 1 of the NHL Finals the Kings were in a 0-2 hole but LA did what they do best, they came back, sent the game to OT and won, moving one step close to a NHL championship. Justin Williams scored the game-winner for the Kings 4:36  into overtime after Dan Girardi tuned the puck over.  The Kings have had multiple game-winners this postseason “It certainly helps that we’ve done it time and time again,” said Williams, “Mr. Game 7″It’s a great result of the hockey game for us, definitely, but we have a lot of things to clean up. Certainly not our best game by any standards, especially ours, but we were able to get it done. That’s the most important thing.”

Kyle Clifford had a goal and an assist for LA, Drew Doughty scored the tying goal in the second period and goalie Jonathan Quick made 25 saves