Kings 3, Rangers 2: Kings win Stanley Cup in double-overtime thriller

Wha’ Happened?

The Los Angeles Kings are the perfect example of how to win in today’s NHL - build the best roster you can, deploy it as best you can, and hope. They’re big, fast, and talented. That won’t win every year, but it will always give them a chance.

The Kings won the Stanley Cup on Friday night, after a 3-2 win in double overtime in Game 5 over the New York Rangers. This year it worked. And they'll celebrate with a parade Monday. 

The Scoring

LA - 1, NYR, 0

A mad scramble in front of the Rangers net left Justin Williams a chance to push the puck towards the net. When it comes to shots, “push” is not a compliment, but it was his only option. Through the chaos, the puck slipped under the legs of Henrik Lundqvist.

LA - 1, NYR, 1

Sometimes in hockey, particularly on the power play, your role on the ice puts you in a position that, if you don’t score, you should be exiled to Antarctica or somewhere worse. Chris Kreider can stay in North America. He redirected a nasty power-play pass from Ryan McDonagh home.

LA - 1, NYR, 2

The Rangers scored a “sorry, pardon, what?” shorty courtesy Brian Boyle. Carl Hagelin out-muscled Slava Voynov, got the puck to Boyle, who pumped a shot on Drew Doughty, got a half step on him, and beat Jonathan Quick top corner. Made total sense. Totally predictable.

LA - 2, NYR, 2

Again, predictable. Marian Gaborik got gritty in front, out-battled a defenseman for a rebound and jammed it home. (Oh right, Friday the 13th, full moon, that whole bit. I get it.)

LA - 3, NYR, 2

ALEC MARTINEZ. What a classic “shoot for the pad” overtime goal. Tyler Toffoli shot far side, and Martinez banged it home. Great, classic, solid way for the Stanley Cup Final to end.

[Courtesy: NHL.com]

Best Player, Winning Team

Justin Williams

Why: Eight shots, the final game’s opening goal … all he does is contribute when it matters most.

Which might be why he won the Conn Smythe Trophy. While I don’t feel the Kings win the Cup without Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar, you might be able to say the same about Williams. Amazing playoff run. Not undeserved in the slightest.

(Stick-tap to Alec Martinez, who apparently scored the Stanley Cup-winning, double-overtime goal.)

Best Player, Losing Team

Ryan McDonagh

Why: He led the Rangers in ice time, as he did most every night. He assisted on a huge goal by Kreider. Without McDonagh, they don’t have an honest chance to win. They did, for the third time in three games in L.A.

The Controversy

There wasn’t one. What there was: posts. Everywhere you turned, posts. The game could’ve ended a dozen different ways, but the Kings got the last break.

What the Winners Did Well

They had the puck, all the time, as they did all year. They outshot the Rangers by 21 Friday night. Henrik Lundqvist is amazing, one of Earth’s best goalies … but that’s just too much too overcome.

How the Winners Stopped their Opponent

For all the flack Jonathan Quick got in these playoffs, he was pretty great in the Final, and that made a huge difference. Between him, a few posts, and a little extra pressure applied to some of the Rangers’ older talent (Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis), and the story was written.

The Takeaway

As great as that Rangers team was, the Kings were only overmatched in net. The Kings used their unmanageable combination of size and skill to get it done. They’re able to offer this to their opponent: “We’re going to trot this out there every night, you show us how often you can stop it.”

It’s tough to stop with any real consistency.

Stray Thoughts

• The Boyle goal on Doughty seemed like one of those “Eh, it’s the powerplay, he’ll dump one on net and be happy with a job well done” moments. Penalty killers do that often - a shot looks good, it isn’t dangerous, so power-play players sort of float about until they get it back. … Oops.

• Never been a tougher Conn Smythe vote. You can make a great case for Doughty. And Kopitar. Marian Gaborik was great. Jeff Carter was great. In the end, there’s no denying Justin Williams was a just candidate.

• I tweeted this tonight: “Chris Kreider is going to be this exact player for 10 years. Huge, fast, awesome, never quite Next Level, for whatever reason.” He’s a kinda big Michael Grabner. More of an obvious top-six guy, but I don’t think he’s ever going to be a consistent NHL All-Star. He just doesn’t seem to think like an elite player.

• What a season. I’m happy the Kings won. They had a great team, stayed healthy, and deserved it as much as anyone.