News from Dagens-Hockey.se

Can Phoenix do what Vancouver and St. Louis could not?

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:35:05 +0200

For the third time this postseason, the Los Angeles Kings have taken a 3-0 lead in a series and threaten to pick up their second sweep of the playoffs on Sunday against the Phoenix Coyotes. They have lost just one of their twelve games and look ready to cruise their way to the Stanley Cup. [...]

Coyotes feel better equipped to rally

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:30:06 +0200

Coyotes were swept last year, but this time, they have a different goalie and no off-ice distractions.

Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012L Red-Hot LA Kings Will Roll to the Title

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:20:06 +0200

The Los Angeles Kings have the necessary momentum and team make-up to be the first No. 8 seed to win a Stanley Cup title.

They have absolutely steamrolled through this year's playoffs, compiling an 11-1 record while seemingly unaware of their underdog status.

After a 2-1 Game 3 win in Phoenix , they're a game away from reaching the Cup final, where they figure to wait for the winner of an Eastern Conference Final that has the looks of a six- or seven-game series.

In the NHL, dominant regular-season clubs aren't locks for anything in the postseason. An increase in physical play and the potential of many fortuitous bounces give lower seeds a legitimate chance.

"Getting hot" at the right time can make teams with records that flirted with .500 more intimidating than a Presidents' Trophy winner.

That's precisely what's happened with the Kings over the last month.

Their assortment of talent has come together at the perfect time and made them unstoppable, much like what happened with the New York Giants in the NFL.

The Giants' talent was there all along, and everything clicked when it needed to. They rode a hot end to the regular season to a 9-7 record and a Super Bowl title.

Look at the Kings' roster—it's lined with stars, the right number of role players and a top-notch goaltender.

They're not a group of massive overachievers who have won on luck alone this spring.

Dustin Brown's an elite right winger, even if most of the East Coast isn't fully aware of his play-making abilities. Anze Kopitar dazzles with nifty puck-handling and snipes with a booming shot. Jeff Carter and Mike Richards are wily veterans who have experienced the rigors of the bruising Eastern Conference playoffs.

Guys like Jarret Stoll and Dustin Penner have vital playoff experience.

Drew Doughty was a member of the gold medal-winning Canadian national team at the 2012 Winter Olympics.

Jonathan Quick is an up-and-coming stalwart in net.

This is not to say the New York Rangers or New Jersey Devils aren't talented and veteran-laden—they are.

But have they been as steady this postseason? Will they be as fresh when one of them reaches the Cup finals?

No.

The Kings have an abundance of skilled players, are oozing with confidence and have made the 2012 playoffs look relatively easy.

They've been on a historic run this point, and in a few weeks, will cap off everything by hoisting the Cup.

Follow @ChrisTrapasso

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com

NHL Playoffs 2012: Will the Extra Day Between Games Help Phoenix Coyotes?

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:20:06 +0200

As harrowing as a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven bout ought to be, the Phoenix Coyotes may be undertaking their task to take four straight do-or-die games in the least harrowing fashion.

The interlude between Games 3 and 4 of the Western Conference finals is the longest of the series, namely the only gap lasting more than two full calendar days. The former ended at 8:35 p.m. local time Thursday night and the latter is slated to commence shortly after noon local time on Sunday.

And the two games in question are both being hosted by the opposing Los Angeles Kings. This means there will be none of the 700-mile travel it takes to go to Glendale and back at any point in the 64-plus hours between Thursday’s final horn and Sunday’s faceoff.

In turn, the Coyotes should benefit from being consistently assembled as one under the roof of their Los Angeles hotel.

That just means more quantitative and qualitative time to sweep away the shards from Martin Hanzal’s suspension and other discipline-related unpleasantness stemming from the last two games. It means more time to reassess the man-for-man matchups that have so far worked in the Kings’ decisive favor for the first three installments of this series.

And it means more time for the Coyotes to soul search, and just enough time for them to recall how they catapulted themselves from a non-playoff spot to this stage in a matter of three months.

Coming out on top in a volatile four-way Pacific Division derby, Phoenix indubitably appreciates its feat and how challenging it will be to follow up on it next season. Both the Kings and the San Jose Sharks had their own lengthy lulls during the 2011-12 regular season, which contributed to their respective finishes at the very bottom of the playoff bracket.

This is not to say the Coyotes must operate under a one-and-done mentality. They have nine players age 30 or younger under contract through at least next season, none more vital than goaltender Mike Smith, whose breakout year was only recently put on hold as LA’s Jon Quick has outclassed him so far in this series.

And of those who are more seasoned and more mature, the likes of Shane Doan and Daymond Langkow will likely allow the success of this season to influence their decisions ahead of free agency in July.

Even so, Doan and Langkow will both be 36 and going on 18 NHL seasons by the next training camp. And this is the closest either man has come to even playing in a Stanley Cup Final, which still isn’t saying much when you consider they still need four wins to claim that passport.

If that notion in particular sinks in and solidifies, it will only be a surprise if the Coyotes are not beaming with healthy desperation by Sunday. What that will do, if anything, to push up a narrowly open window against an assertive Kings team is another story.

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com

The four reasons

Sat, 19 May 2012 10:25:05 +0200

Sometime next month the 2011-12 Stanley Cup champs -- either the Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, New Jersey Devils or New York Rangers -- will gather at centre ice for a photo with the big ol' trophy propped up in front of them. There will be a number of toothless smiles and the assortment...

It Will Be One Big Mess In LA

Sat, 19 May 2012 10:25:05 +0200

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail, On the same day the NHL?s Los Angeles Kings play the Phoenix Coyotes with a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup final, their NBA brethren, the Los Angeles Clippers, will be home for a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs in the same facility. The Kings game is scheduled to start at noon local time; the Clippers at 7:30 p.m. And if that wasn?t enough sporting distractions, the eighth stage of the Amgen Tour of California ? sponsored by AEG, and billed as America?s biggest bicycle race ? is scheduled to finish just outside Staples at 11:45 a.m. It promises to be one grand, ungodly mess ? or what Lee Zeidman, vice-president and general manager of Staples Center, called ?an unprecedented weekend? for the city and facility. The Kings are taking all the necessary precautions, installing their players and staff in a nearby hotel Saturday, so they will be close by Sunday. But even with AEG?s massive clout ? it owns the arena, Kings, and the bike race ? the NHL team couldn?t get into either of the hotels beside the arena Instead, they are a couple of blocks away. And the players, like the fans, will need to cross Figueroa on a pedestrian bridge erected just for the occasion ? or risk getting run over by the cyclists as they race to the finish line. more

Kings looking to sweep Coyotes

Sat, 19 May 2012 09:55:05 +0200

Dwight King has been living in a hotel since the Los Angeles Kings recalled him from the minors just over three months ago, and the playoff hero isn't about to move out of his temporary digs. He's not tempting fate while the Kings are on the verge of exceeding his wildest dreams for his first NHL postseason run.

Game 3: Western Final Down Again, But Up From Last Year This Time

Sat, 19 May 2012 09:25:05 +0200

Game 3 of the Western Conference Final continued on a downward slope in viewership, but not as far down as the 2011 Western Final went. The Kings third consecutive victory over the Coyotes drew 827,000 viewers on NBCSN last night, an 8,000 viewer drop from Game 2, but up 15% from Game 3 of last [...]

Rookie King has been a surprising scorer for Kings

Sat, 19 May 2012 08:40:06 +0200

King, a 22-year-old left winger, has more goals (four) than the Coyotes (three) have in the Western Conference finals. In 12 playoff games, King has five goals.

Kings left wing Dwight King could have given the expected answer when he was talking about previous influences in his life, namely if any of those folks reminded him of Coach Darryl Sutter.

Rookie King has been a surprising scorer for Kings

Sat, 19 May 2012 08:15:07 +0200