los angeles kings advance to finals

Rogie Vachon

Triple Crown Line

Congrats to the Los Angeles Kings on their first trip to the Stanley Cup final since 1993. Dustin Penner tucked in a rebound in the first overtime period, one faceoff after captain Dustin Brown's controversial non-call knee to Phoenix's Michael Rozsival. The handshakes (handshake video here!) after the game were intense, with captain Shane Doan and Martin Handzal both having words with Brown, still upset about the hit. It wasn't all mean spirited though as both goalie shared congrats, and let's face it, they were the two best players in the series. So, Leaf fans, we still have not won a cup since 1967, and neither have the St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings who both joined the league that year. Los Angeles is going off as ten to one favorites to win this season, and the Blues are an up and coming young team who just came off a second place finish in the Western Conference and are only going to get better. Anyways, I don't want to be longest drought.. at least there's a couple other teams with us, but a couple of teams who could be winners for years to come, whereas the Leafs are a nightmare from Hell. And since the Kings and Rangers are the only teams that I picked these playoffs that have done anything for me - I picked Phoenix and New Jersey to be out in the first round (my round one picks, my round two picks) just though I'd share a little Kings history since they have one week to kill until the opening of the Stanley Cup Finals next Wednesday. The Kings were founded in 1966 by Los Angeles Lakers owner, and Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke (and the reason why their original colors, purple and gold, were the same as the Lakers) as part of the 1967 NHL Expansion that doubled the league from six teams for twelve teams. Unable to find a suitable arena or deal with an arena, Cooke decided to build what became known as the Great Western Forum shortly after being awarded the franchise. The Kings were forced to play in nearby Long Beach Arena for its first few months, beating their expansion cousin Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in Long Beach before losing to the same Flyers 2-0 at the opening of the Forum December 30, 1967. The Kings finished second place in the West Division (which was all six expansion teams in one division) one point behind the St Louis Blues. Always the circus around LA, the Kings developed a reputation of trading prospects and draft picks for aging star players winding down their career. The seventies weren't a great time, omit a 105 point 1974-75 season led by star goalie Rogie Vachon and first player then coach Bob Pulford, but they weren't all bad either. On June 23, 1975 the Kings acquired superstar Marcel Dionne from the Detroit Red Wings and, along with Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer, formed the "Triple Crown Line" one of the highest scoring lines in the history of the NHL. In the 1979-80 season Dionne won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the NHL in scoring and the entire line was chosen to play at the All Star Game, which was held in Los Angeles. However, despite their scoring prowess the Kings could not get past the first round of the playoffs for the life of them. Until 1982 that is. The Kings barely qualified for the playoffs with a mere 65 points and went up against Gretzky's powerhouse Edmonton Oilers, who accumulated 111 points in the regualar season. The first game of the series was like a wild west show with the Kings beating the Oilers 10-8, still the highest scoring playoff game of all time. After dropping game 2 in OT to the Oilers, game three looked like Edmonton was now really firing on all cylinders taking a 5-0 lead (on the road!) into the third period. Cue the "Miracle On Manchester." The Kings stunned the Oilers by scoring five goals in the third period, the last one coming off the stick of Steve Bozak with five second to play, forcing the game to overtime. And just like that, at 2:35 of OT Kings winger Daryl Evans beats Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr,  firing a slapper right off the draw. This is cited as the greatest playoff comeback of all time, and they went on to beat the Oilers 7-4 in the next game to take the series.  Change was coming, made clear by the trading of franchise player Dionne to the New York Rangers to make room for a new crop of talented kids like Luc Robitaille, Jimmy Carson, and Steve Duchnese. Kings owner Jerry Buss, who had purchased the team from Cooke in 1979, was looking to sell the team in 1987 and found a buyer in Bruce McNall, who made two drastic changes. Gone were the gold/purple color scheme in favor of black and silver, and in was Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers in a trade the rocked the entire country of Canada. August 9, 1988 was the date, and like most significant events, the question arose "Where were you when Gretzky was traded?"  But the trade never brought Lord Stanley's Cup to Los Angeles during the Great One's tenure there, closed being a 1993 Stanley Cup final loss in five games to the Montreal Canadiens. Most of the Kings greatest moments of the 90s revolved around Gretzky, where he scored his record breaking 802 goal at the Forum, but McNall's reckless spending led the team into financial trouble and by 1995 the team filed for bankruptcy. The Kings moved to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles in 1999, but could not do much for years, either not making the playoffs or bowing out in the first round. The 2000-01 season was a high point where they finished second in their division and had a first round date with the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings. After being manhandled in the first two games, the Kings went on to win four straight upsetting the Red Wings, only to lose in seven games in round two to the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche. The mid 2000's were.. terrible, but they got many high draft picks that includes lots of their core guys now. Dustin Brown was the  teams first pick in 2003, and in 2005 they took Anze Kopitar in the first round and Jonathon "Vezina Smythe" Quick in the third round. And at the 2008 draft the Kings selected Drew Doughty. It goes to show that if you draft well and develop the players properly you'll build the core for a great team for years to come. Trading for guys like Mike Richards and Jeff Carter helps too!

Gretzky in LA