One of the greatest series in the modern era of hockey came to a close on Sunday night with the Kings winning an epic Game 7 in overtime 5-4.
And when I say that there is no exaggeration. This was one of the best series I can ever remember, personally the best series I have ever seen, and one of the best in history. Regardless of who you were cheering for, Kings or Hawks, there is no denying how great a series this was.
First and foremost, Chicago, unbelievable. From top to bottom, unreal. This series wouldn't nearly have been as great if it weren't for the strong play, strong coaching, and passionate following of the Chicago faithful. Well done. Unfortunately someone had to lose, and tonight it was the windy city residents.
Disappointed, yes. Angry, not really. Hawks went out like champions and that is all you can ask.
— Second City Hockey (@2ndCityHockey) June 2, 2014Hold your head high Hawks fans, you played one helluva series.
Kings and Blackhawks are today's equivalent of Red Wings and Avalanche.
You know both can win the Cup, but only one will play for it.
— Daniel Friedman (@DFriedmanOnNYI) June 2, 2014The Kings never gave up. Doesn't that really sum up the entire playoffs so far? They got down 3-0 against the Sharks, 3-2 against the Ducks, and were down 2-0 in Game 7 against the Stanley Cup champs. They fell behind 3 times in the game, and the only time they led was when Tyler Toffoli's tip from an Alec Martinez slap shot found the back of the net.
The mentality, the character, the culture of the Kings came through again. I talked a bit about it before, and here was another example. As Alec Martinez put it in his on ice interview with Brian Engblom after the game,
"We're like cockroaches, we just don't go away."
Well put 27, who had the primary assist on the overtime series winner.
This series had everything. It was everything we thought it would be. The chess match on the ice from the top players like Kopitar and Toews. The equally as compelling chess match going on behind the bench with Quenneville and Sutter. JQ changed his lines up from Game 4 on and it paid dividends. Sutter responded by switching his lines and matchups in Game 7 and THAT paid dividends.
Old standbys like Patrick Kane, Jeff Carter, and Marian Gaborik were center stage in production, but a lot of young talent showed up to make a case also. Brandon Saad was tremendous in the series, as was Andrew Shaw. The two youngsters brought to life a dormant Patrick Kane, who nearly put the Blackhawks on his back. Pearson and Toffoli were the headliners for the Kings obviously. Toffoli ends the series with a sparkling 6 points and 4 goals (Potentially 5 if he in fact tipped the game winner. Pearson also closed out the series with 6 points. The two brought a tremendous element of speed to the Kings that was able to rival that of the Hawks. Unlike last year, the healthy Kings squad with the inclusion of Pearson, Gaborik, and Toffoli were able to pressure the Blackhawks defensive corps.
And how about Marian Gaborik?
The vet potted his 3rd goal of the series in Game 7, and now leads the playoffs with 12 goals and 19 points. Depending on how it goes in the finals for the Slovak, he could be looking at a Conn Smythe trophy against his former team. How ironic would that end up being?
You also can't say enough about Anze Kopitar in this series. He was goalless, yes, but he was also locked into one of the most epic battles with Jonathan Toews that you'll see. To the wayward hockey fan you probably didn't know much about Kopitar in the series, but his line and the defensive tandem of Doughty and Muzzin had the out and out task to handle and contain Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews. No easy task. While Toews had 7 points in the series and played spectacular, Hossa will look back and wonder what happened. The friend of Gaborik recorded just 3 points and no goals in the series.
To the goaltending. Yes, it was ugly, it was erratic, and it was just another part of this epic series. To me, while their were bad goals and bad games from both Jonathan Quick and Corey Crawford, the high scoring was more a factor of the killer job both offenses were doing and less about the bad goaltending. Yea, it was bad at times outright. It looked like it wasn't going to be Jonathan Quick's night tonight for many reasons. Any night you catch a goal deflected in off you and one that bounces over the pad and under the blocker...it isn't going to feel like your night. Much like the entire team though, Quick battled back. From about 10 minutes on into the third period No. 32 went into lockdown mode and came up with a few beauties. One in the waning seconds of the game where he had to do the full splits to stuff Patrick Kane on the doorstep.
It wasn't a pretty series, but it got the job done. Now Quick gets to go head to head with his long time Eastern Conference rival, Henrik Lundqvist. No doubt the battle in the mainstream media will be about who is the better goaltender. I can tell you that Quick is going to have to be much better against NYR if he wants to come close to that conversation in reality. Quick wraps up the series with an .889 save percentage in 7 games and a 3.11 goals against. His counterpart on the other end, Corey Crawford, finishes with an equally dirty looking .878 save percentage and a 3.52 GAA.
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I thought one of the keys would be Slava Voynov and Willie Mitchell playing better. They did just that in Game 7. While both players still ended in the negative spectrum of possession numbers, Mitchell turned double digit negative into a rather serviceable -5.3% relative corsi in over 23 minutes of icetime. Voynov also crept up closer to even, with a -1.6% on the night. The much maligned Voynov also made several key defensive plays in the game. Great rebound game for the 24-year old.
Doughty and Keith were, as expected, fantastic. Doughty had a rough Game 7 but overall carried the mail for the Kings throughout the series. Keith, on the opposite end of things, had a rough start to the series but slowly played his way into prominence as the series progressed. Keith averaged 27:34 in ice time for the Hawks over the course of the series with a +2 rating and 3 points. Doughty was a shade over 28 minutes and had a minus-2 rating with 7 points. Also hats off to the partners, Jake Muzzin and Brent Seabrook who also played fantastic series. Muzzin in particular has only gotten stronger as the postseason has progressed. He looked like he belonged against the best in this series with Chicago. I don't think there is any question at this point that he is a top pairing defenseman.
A few records of note here, the Kings have become the first team in history to make their way to the finals on the maximum number of games.
The @LAKings are the first team in NHL history to win three Game 7's before the Stanley Cup Final.
— ESPN (@espn) June 2, 2014Justin Williams also broke the NHL record for career points in Game 7's. With two tonight, he has 14 and steps ahead of Dougie Gilmour with 13.
Justin Williams now has 7 goals and 7 assists in 7 career Game 7s.
Also, No. 14 scored that 14th point with 14:14 left in overtime.
— PumperNicholl (@PumperNicholl) June 2, 2014There is too much to write about with this series and just not enough words to express it really. Simply put, it was one of the best all-time series.
Now the Kings move forward. Oh yea, that's right, this wasn't the finals. The series against the New York Rangers will begin on Wednesday. Game 2, 3, and 4 will be played on the following Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday.
The full schedule is already posted on NHL.com
I don't think it will be as easy a series as many are making it out to be. I'll have a preview up of the series in the coming days, but it will be interesting to see how the Kings manage such an emotional roller coaster. If their attitude in the past is any indication, I think they'll handle it just fine.
As I have done with every series, it's time to vote for your MVP of the series. There are so many to choose from, but for me it has to be Jeff Carter. His 11 points and 5 goals were key in the team running up a 3-1 lead. He also had a key goal in Game 7 to keep the Kings in it. There are plenty of choices though. Jeff Carter is certainly the sexy pick here, but Toffoli and Pearson both played well above their heads. Dustin Brown was alive and well in the series. Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty both had tremendous games in the series. Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik were the duo tasked with shutting down Toews and Hossa. Take your pick. There are plenty.
I also could not leave tonight without throwing out one of the best photoshops I've ever seen. This is glorious in every way possible. Credit to whoever put this bad boy together.
On to New York where the Kings have a chance at their second cup. Wow. What a night. What a series.
Hey @NHL... pic.twitter.com/hZsEDaTm1d
— Jason Lewis (@SirJDL) June 2, 2014Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings and the NHL