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Jonathan Quick Los Angeles Kings

King Me! Los Angeles Wins The Stanley Cup

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It was an anti-climactic finish to the NHL season last night in Los Angeles’ Staples Center, but none of the locals were complaining. The Los Angeles Kings jumped all over the New Jersey Devils early in the game, rattling off three power-play goals in the first period and cruising home to a 6-1 win that put the finishing touches on their six-game series win in the Finals and the hoisting of the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup.

The overall numbers for the game look fairly pedestrian for Los Angeles offensively, in line with what we’ve seen throughout the series. But while they got a 25 shots for the game (a middling number), they took more than half, 13 in all, in the first period, That’s the kind of offensive activity they had not generated through the first five games, even in their wins and it overwhelmed Devils’ goalie Martin Brodeur.

There was no score midway through the first period when the floodgates collapsed. Dustin Brown scored on the power play, then got an assist to Jeff Carter shortly thereafter. In both goals, Mike Richards was involved on a secondary assist. With five minutes to go in the period, Trevor Lewis scored with the man advantage and for all intents and purposes that was the dagger. The remaining two periods and change were about celebrating and counting down the clock. Although, as a Boston fan who saw the Bruins get up 3-0 in a Game 7 last year, I can tell you that the clock countdown is the most excruciatingly slow experience I have ever endured as a sports fan.

New Jersey got their goal towards the end of the second period to make it 4-1 and the Kings tacked on one goal against an empty net with close to four minutes left and then scored another one moments later with Brodeur back in the net. The veteran netminder, the best of his era, looked overmatched for the second time in this series—Game 3 being the other—and Brodeur joined the Celtics’ Big Three in the category of gutty veterans giving way to younger talent here in the past three days.

Los Angeles might have had some NBA disappointment this year, they might have baseball excitement in both leagues to look forward to in October. But for now the boys who play hockey are Kings of the town, as their improbable playoff run as a #8 seed ends with the Cup.

NHL Playoffs: Brodeur’s Collapse Puts New Jersey On The Brink

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You can praise the Los Angeles Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick for his role in the team’s 4-0 shutout win over New Jersey in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, putting the Kings up 3-0 in games and one win from their first Cup ever. You’d be right to do so. You can praise the Los Angeles team defense and you’d be right to do so. But as much as New Jersey Devil goaltender Martin Brodeur is an icon, and as much as TheSportsNotebook in particular respects him, last night was about the Devil goalie.

New Jersey played its second straight outstanding defensive game—they’ve been good in all three games, but the last two have risen to the level of complete shutdown. They allowed only 21 shots on goal. Of Los Angeles’ three best players, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Dustin Penner, they combined for just one of those shots. The fact that this resulted in four goals has to fall on the shoulders of the veteran between the pipes who has three rings and is a lock Hall of Famer, but just appears to be fighting off the effects of time.

The first period of Game 3 went by scoreless before Los Angeles broke the ice (no pun intended). Kopitar, one the one shot from the team’s offensive core, then added a second goal on an assist from Brown. Let’s now also give credit to the Kings’ team defense, which held New Jersey to only 22 shots. And while Zach Parise was able to get four off, Ilya Kovalchuk was again made irrelevant. And with Jonathan Quick young, hungry and locked-in, that two-goal lead might as well have  been 6-0. Just in case there was any doubt thought,  Los Angeles added a pair of power play goals early in the third period to put it away. New Jersey’s inability to kill either of the two power plays—the only times all night Los Angeles played with the man advantage speak further volumes to how much Brodeur struggled.

Los Angeles will look to put it away in Game 4 on Wednesday night from the Staples center. Although as ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon noted yesterday, with this team being unbeaten in the road, maybe their real ace in the hole is that they still have two trips to New Jersey in their back pocket, regardless of what happens Wednesday.

Is it now a foregone conclusion this series is over? At 3-0, I’d certainly have to say yes. I do follow and root for Boston sports so I know what the Red Sox did in 2004 and what happened to the Bruins in 2010. But those are history-making moments for a reason—they rarely happen. Maybe a better question would be if the Devils’ can just get two wins and make the Finals interesting again. Here I’d be more optimistic. They’re playing outstanding team defense. They just need Kovalchuk to get involved and then the old vet, Mr. Brodeur needs to put the team on his back at least once.