Things have been moving right along in the world and with a crazy as ever pace. Last we heard from me on the subject of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I was busy butchering EVERY prediction I made. Of the teams I picked to be in the final 4 only 1 of them won, and NONE of them are in the finals. How is this you might say? Well first it’s the beauty of the NHL playoffs in that anything can happen, which not only makes it the best sport there is, but also the hardest trophy in sports to win as well. And secondly, that I totally 100% underestimated the LA Kings. Sure, I have liked them for 2-3 years now as a young, upcoming team, but wow have they been good. And I have been enjoying it as a pleasantly surprised fan. I had a post written up leading into the final four/ Conf finals in which I predicted who would be in the Stanley Cup finals, but alas it has been swept into the blog-o-sphere void of oblivion by forces beyond my control. But to save you the time I will simply say that I predicted the Kings would face the Rangers. I got this one 1/2 right finally… yeah yeah no proof, but I’m not winning any money here so you will just have to take my word about that one.

So who is going to win the cup? Well, I will tell you but I am almost reluctant to do so. I was so bad this year at predictions and my playoff predictions were even worse so I hate to jinx a team, but I will anyway. I am going to say LA Kings in 6. Sorry Kings fans I hope I have not jinxed you guys.

Why will the Kings win? Well I will break down the two teams quickly and try and show you why in my own special way.

I started the year off by saying that the Devils will not make the playoffs. I still don’t see them as very good as a team but the franchise has a knack at being very good at a few things. First, Marty Brodeur is just simply one of the best goalies in history. Again he wasn’t great during the reg season, but he was good enough to get them there and has been spectacular in the POs and that’s all that matters. Second the team has been playing the same clutch and grab defensive style since the mid 90s and they continue to get away with it. Sure the NHL tightened things up around 06 when the Canes took advantage of them ACTUALLY CALLING PENALTIES on those plays, but the NHL has gone back to the same old crappy refereeing and has continued to allow this to go on. So what do the Devils do? Well they play defensively and shorthanded VERY WELL. So they fill their team up with PKers and shoot out guys. They clutch and grab you all the way to the penalty box, and then use that time to melt the clock away and try and score as many shorties as they can. And they did, to the tune of a NHL leading 15 SHG this year. But what happens in the NHL all the time is, the more you get penalized the less you get penalized later in the game. No matter what you generally aren’t going to give a team more then 4-6 PP chances a game. So what do they do? Well, they just swallow their whistles. Ok Ok for those who don’t care about me bitching about the lack of consistency I will go back to my other point. So how DID the Devils manage to get over 100 points? Like I said low scoring take it to OT hockey.

What’s the difference between a 100 point team this year in the Devils and a team WAY out of the playoffs like the Canes? OVERTIME. The Devils used the clutch and grab burn the clock strategy to get to OT 22 times this year. That’s an astonishing greater then 25% of their games. Their Record 16-6. Canes OT/Shootout record—> 4-16. Of those 22 games by the Devils they were 12-4 in shootouts. (Canes were 1-6 in shootouts).

With the parity there is in the NHL it is widely accepted that OT is typically a coin flip. Shoot outs are a little less then a coin flip with some teams clearly having a SO advantage with guys but still for sake of argument in the long run they are a coin flip. So just looking at the 22 games in OT the Devils could very well have been 11-11, and a full ten points less and barely (if at all with tie breakers) fitting into the 8th spot in the east. Let’s not even talk about if they happened to finish even 1 game under .500 in OT they wouldn’t even be IN the playoffs. So yes I stand behind my statement that the Devils got by all year with smoke and mirrors and a little luck, and in the playoffs they are getting by on the back of Marty Brodeur.

So now let’s look at the LA Kings. The Kings remind me 100% of the Flyers team a few years ago that got to the Stanley Cup finals. The teams both started the year off with HUGE expectations and fell flat on their faces out of the gate. It was only with a late surge of great play (and a trade or two) which put them both into the playoffs. BUT, once in the playoff both teams steamrolled their way into the promised land which is the Stanley Cup finals. Both teams coincidentally have Mike Richads and Jeff Carter FWIW.

So the Kings sit with among the best top 6 forwards in the league right now,and a solid D corps which has journeymen stay at home types and the complete psychopath Drew Doughty. Up front you get the six forwards who can do about anything. Dustin Brown can physically kill you and then put the puck in the net in the same shit. Anze Kopitar might be the most electrifying  and underrated forwards in the game right now. Carter and Richards are among the best two way forwards in the game when they are playing like Carter and Richards. Justin Williams (naturally a favorite of mine and locally here in NC b/c of his Cup with the Canes) is actually healthy (rarity) and quietly does everything needed of a forward in the playoffs, half the time you don’t know he’s even out there until he makes an amazing pass for an Assist. And finally is Dustin Penner. Another enigma on the ice for a guy who SHOULD be all world but he’s been on again off again and b/c of it hasn’t gotten as much ice time. But Penner has a flare for dramatics and is an imposing size and skill out there. If he’s on, then watch out it could be a short series for sure.

In net Jonathan Quick has been better then good with his .946 Save % in the playoffs (facing only 29 shots a game). I doubt anyone expects him to keep it up but if the D keeps tightening around him he could very well keep it above .930 and keep every game in the hands of his forwards.

Either way this series goes it’s obvious that in a higher scoring series the edge goes to the Kings. In a low scoring series I would say the Devils for the whole fair and balanced argument, but in all honestly as good as Quick has been the series still is just as much a coin flip as a low scoring one. So overall I still have to give an edge to the Kings.

I am just hoping that the Kings don’t blow it like the Flyers did a few years ago!

One last note on Ch Ch Ch Changes!!! No, I won’t be going away any time soon. I know my posts have been few and far between, and I also have promised that I will be writing more. Well, I cannot promise that again b/c I have no idea if it will happen (although I still am trying), but a change in jobs is coming. As some of you may know, I work 7 on 7 off overnights. In the past, basically for the 1st year of my blog, my nights have been busy at times at work, but for the most part we still had a ton of down time and I had been able to review all the movies we watched on the weekend (6 red boxes a work week!) and also get a normal post up every other day. Well, as the years went by and the place got a little busier, the long eye of the “higher ups” seemed to take over. It was a bit harder to try and type posts, even my rudimentary movie reviews seemed to be met with some ire and weird looks from certain eyes as I typed them. So that uncomfortableness has kept me from writing as much as I like on those weeks.With any luck when I begin my new job at the beginning of July, I will be able to get on a decent schedule of coming home from my daytime and get in a post a few times a week before dinner and getting the kids to bed. Of course those are best case scenarios so hopefully I can live up to my wishes.

Have a great week all and Let’s Go Kings!!

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