The Los Angeles Kings are 4 wins away from being hockey’s
salary cap era dynasty. They will have won 2 Stanley Cups in 3 years and the
year they lost it was to the era’s other great team the Chicago Blackhawks and
it was in Western Conference finals when the Kings were injured. I picked the
Kings to beat the Blackhawks this year in what was maybe the greatest hockey
ever played. Take that you bullshit Olympic purists. The Kings came from 3-0
down to beat a super talented but gutless San Jose Sharks and from 3-2 down to
beat the super talented but BBQ Bruce led Anaheim Ducks. They trailed the defending
Cup Champs Chicago in game 7. They won 3 game 7s on the road. Darryl Sutter’s
men were undefeated when facing elimination. By contrast the Eastern Conference
champs the New York Rangers took a much easier path to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The beat the Flyers, maybe the toughest team they played, with their goalie
Steve Mason injured. The Flyers had to play goalie Ray Emery, a gangsta thug
who is lucky when the puck hits him. They beat the Penguins, a mess of an organization
who let them off a 3-1 hook. The Rangers beat the Canadiens after they injured
Montreal’s Gold Medal winning goalie
Carey Price in game 1. The Rangers road to the Stanley Cup was so easy it’s
like they got a police escort.
So guess who I’m picking in this series….. Not yet. Let’s
break it down.
The best player in hockey lately has been a choice of either
Crosby, Toews, Getzlaf and Malkin. Well now you can put Anze Kopitar at the top
of the list. I used to call Kopitar west coast Malkin but now that is an insult
to Anze. Kopitar is superior. A Selke finalist ( defensive award) who can flat out score. His linemates Dustin
Brown (best captain in hockey) and Marian Gaborik ( best deadline deal in a
generation) gives LA the best line in hockey. They ate up the Toews line when
it mattered. The Kings second line, that 70’s line is as fast a line as you
will ever see. The Kings are so loaded Mike Richards is their 4th
line center. The Rangers have some nice players ( St. Louis, Richards, Stephan)
but they are tiny compared to the Kings. Rick Nash has size but he plays like
Eric Lindros after all the concussions. soft.
The Kings have the best defenseman in hockey Drew Doughty
and every other King’s top 6 defensemen would be in the Rangers top four
defensemen after Mc Donagh, Girardi and Staal.
The Rangers do have an incredible goaltender in Henrik
Lundvist. He may very well steal a couple games but he can’t steal a series.
Jonathan Quick is also an incredible goaltender who always rises to the
occasion. Even if the Rangers injure Quick I think they can beat the Rangers
with back up Martin Jones in net.
KINGS in 5, let
dynasty talk begin.
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