Did you catch Game Seven? Wow. That was a game worthy of the billing coming into the match-up, as the Blackhawks and Kings didn't disappoint the casual fan.The two best suited playoff teams in the West went the distance in a series that was far from the playoff-type hockey we've been accustomed to over the last few years, as the series averaged over seven goals a game and had two overtime periods played in it as well.
In the end, in a 5-4 overtime finish, the Los Angeles Kings dispatched of the current Stanley Cup champions for their own chance to retake the throne, something they only just gave up the year previous.
The Kings were in tough on Sunday night, as they had to travel to the United Center in Chicago to do the deed, which was going to be difficult in itself, but in the end, their patience and belief in their system outlasted the Blackhawks.
The 1st period was quite the circus, as the Blackhawks rushed out to a 2-0 lead, but if you blinked in the second half of the period, you would have likely missed three goals. In 1:03, the Kings were able to tie the game and then see the Hawks retake the lead, finishing the frame with a 3-2 scoreline.
The middle frame was a little calmer with the Kings tying the game again at the midway point of the period, but the Blackhawks found the back of the net again with a Patrick Sharp power play goal and the Hawks held another lead into the 3rd period at 4-3.
Sure enough, the Kings were able to put more pressure on the Blackhawks in the 3rd, as they managed to direct 14 shots at Corey Crawford, managing to capitalize on an LA bounce, as Marian Gaborik put one off Crawford and into the yawning cage, tying the game at four. The period had a pretty frantic pace, as the Blackhawks were no slouches in the shot department, pumping 13 on Jonathan Quick, but nothing got passed him in the frame, sending the game to overtime.
Overtime didn't last very long in the deciding game, because it was less than six minutes in before Alec Martinez was able to find some space between Nick Leddy's body & arm, getting a slight deflection past Crawford to win it.
It was quite the rollercoaster of a game, where the Kings didn't have a lead in the game, until it mattered the most... at the final buzzer.
In the penultimate game of the Western Conference Finals, the notable Kings in the playoff pool were Quick, Martinez, Justin Williams, Dustin Brown and Dwight King... all coming away with 2 points each. From the Blackhawks, it was Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp coming away with 2 points each in their final game of the playoffs.
The Kings win broke the 3-way tie for 1st place, making it into just a 2-way tie, as Corey M. and Travis G. are locked in at 244 points, Corey moving into 1st with one more goal in the tie-breaker. Wes M. only sits 1 point out of the tie at the top, while Gus M. has one team in the money with 240 points, 5 points up on his second team, which sits in 5th place.
10 teams will go into the Stanley Cup Finals with the maximum six players on their pool teams, including seven out of the top 10 teams. Four teams, including the 10th place team belonging to Brady J., have five players left, five teams have four players left and the remaining 28 teams have three or less players. Five teams completely struck out, having no one in the Finals, so there could be a quick drop in the standings for a few of them.
I'll set up a better Stanley Cup Finals preview before Game One, which goes on Wednesday night.
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