It has been 11 years since the Los Angeles Kings have advanced past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. After defeating the Vancouver Canucks – the President Trophy winner - in five games, they’ve move on to face the Central Division champion St. Louis Blues in the second round.
The Blues have also had a 10- year drought in their first round attempts.
Both teams, unhappy with the way things were going, took similar paths this season by hiring new head coaches early in the season, breathing life into both organizations.
Ken Hitchcock, winner of the Stanley Cup while coaching the Dallas Stars during the 1998-99 season, was hired by the Blues to replace Davis Payne. Under Payne’s watch, the Blues record was 6-7-0 and finished the season 42-14-10 with Hitchcock. Payne wasn’t able to get the Blues to the playoffs the previous two seasons.
Darryl Sutter, former great left-winger for the Chicago Blackhawks and one of six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL, was hired by the Kings to replace Terry Murray. The Kings went 13-12-4 with Murray and finished the regular season 25-13-11 with Sutter.
The three previous seasons Murray coached the Kings, they either missed the playoffs or lost in the first round. The Kings’ organization had higher expectations than those results and liked Sutter for his physical-play mentality.
Both Sutter and Hitchcock have reputations for a defense-first style of play. The Blues finished first in goals-against average, the Kings were second.
The Kings also received a shot in the arm when they traded for Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards during the offseason. He’s the one-two punch they needed to pair up with Anze Kopitar on the power play. Richards was also re-united with former Flyer Jeff Carter, who gave the Kings the boost they needed down the stretch when acquired during the season.
The Kings have faced the Blues in a playoff series on two occasions, having been swept by the Blues in four games when they met in both the 1969 semifinals and the 1998 quarterfinals. But in the current regular season series, the Kings won three out of the four contests.
This should be a close series revolving around ace goaltenders Jonathan Quick, an early Conn Smythe candidate for the Kings, and Brian Elliot who shared the net with Blues goalie and starter Jaroslav Halak until Halak sustained an injury during game two of the first round against the San Jose Sharks. They both helped the Blues allow the fewest goals against during the regular season.
Be on the lookout for these goal-scoring snipers: For the Blues, David Backes, T.J. Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo; Dustin Brown, Kopitar and Richards for the Kings. Although, in the first round, the top goal-scorers were former Anaheim Duck Andy McDonald and Patrik Berglund for the Blues; Brown and Jarret Stoll for the Kings.
Hitchcock said after the five-game series win over the Sharks that the key difference was his team’s power play which scored six goals on 18 chances. By comparison, the Kings struggled with the man advantage, scoring only three times on 26 chances against the Canucks.
Because these two teams are the stingiest in the NHL when it comes to goals against, the first goal will be extremely important in every game. The scarcity of goals could lead to many overtime periods and a long series.
Since the Blues have home-ice advantage against the Kings, the first two games of the seven-game series were to be played in St. Louis, but the Kings won Game One.
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