Three Reasons The Los Angeles Kings Will Win The Stanley Cup

            For my first post on this great new blog, I’m going to cover a league that doesn’t get much attention from the national media, the NHL. More specifically, I’m going to break down the three main reasons that the Los Angeles Kings will be hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup high above their heads come June.

            The first (and probably most important) reason is the goaltending. Goalie Jonathan Quick led the league in shutouts during the regular season with 10, and has two so far in the playoffs. For a team that was offensively challenged for the most part during the regular season, those 10 shutouts were the difference that vaunted the Kings into the playoffs as an 8 seed.

            The second reason I feel this team has what it takes to win the Cup? The fact that they have yet to lose a road game so far in the playoffs, going 3-0 in Vancouver vs. the Presidents Trophy winning Canucks, 2-0 in St Louis vs. the Blues, and 2-0 so far in Phoenix against the very tough Coyotes. Usually in playoff hockey, you love it if you can manage a split on the road. What the Kings have done on the road so far is absolutely incredible.

            Finally, the Kings have had success to this point in the playoffs because they finally found their offense. Before the season, a fair amount of writers said this team would be great. They have great young stars in Mike Richards and Dustin Brown, but they couldn't get it going offensively, finishing 29^th in the league with 2.29 goals per game. In the postseason, however, that number has jumped to 3.10 goals per game.  The Kings have scored 4+ goals 6 times in 11 playoff games. For reference, in 82 regular season games, they reached the 4+ goal mark only 16 times.