Los Angeles Kings vs. New Jersey Devils
The upstart Kings have finally lived up to the expectations the last few seasons and are in their second Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. The problem is they run into another elite goaltender that has already won three Stanley Cup titles in Martin Brodeur.
The Kings fortunes are riding on their opportunistic style in these playoffs. They have scored 5 shorthanded goals in the playoffs. Four of them by Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar. It’s not expected that they will be able to score more shorthanded goals against New Jersey’s stifling defense. The one advantage the Kings do have is their top two lines of Brown, Kopitar, Justin Williams with Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Dustin Penner is playing at an all-time level. Their goaltender Jonathan Quick has also been this years darling of the playoffs.
For New Jersey they are riding the skates of their 40 year old goaltender Martin Brodeur. He has been flying under the radar for most of these playoffs, which is hard to believe. His performance in the Eastern Conference Finals has brought him back into the spotlight and the Devils aren’t winning their games solely on defense. Ilya Kovalchuk, their leading scorer and Zach Parise are both hungry for their first Stanley Cup title. It should be low scoring games, but both teams take advantage of opponents mistakes. That won’t change for the Stanley Cup Finals.
Matchup to watch: C Dustin Brown (7goals, 9 assists) vs. G Martin Brodeur (2.04 GAA, .923 SV%)
Results: Kings in 6 games
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