"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."
Showing posts with label LAKings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LAKings. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
LA Kings End 45 Year Stanley Wait
The Los Angeles Kings have won their first NHL championship, beating the New Jersey Devils 6-1 Monday night in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis scored two goals apiece, and Jonathan Quick made 17 saves in his latest stellar performance for the Kings, the first eighth-seeded playoff team to win the Stanley Cup.
Captain Dustin Brown had a goal and two assists as Los Angeles ended its dominant two-month playoff run in front of frenzied fans who had waited 45 years for their first look at the Stanley Cup since the Kings' expansion birth in 1967.
With three first-period power-play goals after New Jersey's Steve Bernier was ejected for boarding Rob Scuderi, the Kings finished ferociously after taking a 3-0 series lead and then losing two potential clinching games last week.
Martin Brodeur stopped 19 shots for the Eastern Conference champion Devils, just the third team to force a Game 6 in the finals after falling into an 0-3 hole.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Devils Quick to Reach Game Six
Bryce Salvador scored on a deflection off a defenseman and the New Jersey Devils derailed Los Angeles' Stanley Cup coronation for a second time, beating the Kings 2-1 in Game 5 of the finals Saturday night.
Zach Parise ended a five-game goal drought on a rare mistake by goalie Jonathan Quick, and Martin Brodeur stopped 25 shots to help the Devils end the Kings' 10-game postseason winning streak on the road and 12-game run over the past two years, both NHL records.
"That's how a goalie wins the game for you," Parise said about Brodeur.
Justin Williams scored for the Kings, whose once seemingly insurmountable 3-0 series lead has been cut to 3-2. Game 6 is Monday night in Los Angeles.
More importantly, the Devils have the Kings wondering what's going on for the first time in the postseason.
This marks the first time the Kings have lost consecutive games this postseason, and the Devils are halfway up a mountain that only one other NHL team has climbed in the finals after losing the first three games.
Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs came back in a best-of-seven finals and won. Three years later, the Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the series, but they lost Game 7 to Toronto.
The Kings haven't played terribly in losing the past two games, but the Devils have made the plays when it counted or gotten the breaks when they needed them.
Take Salvador's winner, his first goal in seven games. His shot from the left point was deflected right in front of Quick, hit off the chest of Kings defenseman Slava Voynov and rebounded into the net at 9:05 of the second period. It was the second time in this series that a point shot by a Devils defenseman hit off Voynov and caromed past his goaltender.
This one turned out to be a winner because Brodeur stood tall the rest of the way and had one shot hit off the goalpost and had a goal by Jarret Stoll on a second-period power play waved off because he hit the rebound with his stick too high.
Brodeur's biggest save might have been with 7.6 seconds to go in regulation when he stopped a slap shot by Mike Richards from the right circle.
The Kings, overtime winners in the first two games in the series in New Jersey, never got another shot and Brodeur took a patented victory swig of the Gatorade bottle on top of his net, as he has done for 18 years.
However, there was no overwhelming celebration from the home team. Slaps on the pads, a few head nods, then it was off to the locker room.
The Kings meanwhile, heads down, made a bee line for their locker room.
As the crowd filed out, again to the 1984 Bruce Springsteen hit, "Glory Days," the chants of Mar-tee! Mar-tee! were loud and long.
The Kings seemingly had the territorial advantage in the opening period but they also made the biggest mistake.
And it came from a guy who has been almost flawless in the postseason -- Quick.
With Willie Mitchell serving the final 20 seconds of a penalty for interference, Quick played a puck in front of his net and tried to send it around the net into the corner. The puck slid off his stick, went around the net and barely made it to the right edge of the crease.
Parise, who had not scored in five games, darted to the edge of the net and stuffed it home a split second before Quick could cover the corner of the net.
Earlier in the penalty, Quick made a stop on a point-blank blast by Travis Zajac. The puck momentarily got through his pads and lay in the crease, but Drew Doughty quickly cleared it.
While Quick made the bad play that led to the goal, he also made a big stop on a point-blank shot by Zajac in the opening seconds of the power play that kept the Devils off the scoreboard.
The Kings were unlucky not to have the lead in the opening minutes. Williams picked up a loose puck in the Devils' zone and hit the right goalpost dead on with a blast that could be heard throughout the sold-out Prudential Center.
Williams tied it early in the second period with a great individual effort. He avoided a check skating into the Devils' zone, cut to the center of the ice and ripped a 30-foot shot into the upper corner of the net past a screened Brodeur.
Minutes later, Brodeur stopped Stoll with a sliding save on a breakaway.
Quick, who was outstanding making 17 saves, stopped Zajac on a backhander in close before Salvador gave the Devils the lead with his fluky goal.
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Devils Stop Kings Stanley Plans
The New Jersey Devils' remarkable rookie and their 40-year-old goalie have sent this series with the LA Kings to another game
Adam Henrique scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:29 to play, Martin Brodeur made 21 saves, and New Jersey beat Los Angeles 3-1 on Wednesday night to avoid a sweep in the Stanley Cup finals.
Patrik Elias and Ilya Kovalchuk also scored third-period goals for the Eastern Conference champion Devils, who forced the NHL to pack up the Cup for another cross-country trip. Game 5 is Saturday night in Newark, N.J.
"It's a tough situation, but we live another day," Brodeur said. "We wanted to at least have one more game in our building for our fans. Hopefully, we'll make the best of it and come back here."
The Kings have won all 10 of their road playoff games this spring and 12 straight overall -- both NHL postseason records. But after never trailing in the Stanley Cup finals, the Kings never led in Game 4.
"I think (wrapping it up) was definitely on our minds, but they found a way to get a late goal," Kings captain Dustin Brown said. "We've just got to hit the reset button. We've been in this situation now four times in the playoffs, and we've always come back with a big rebound game."
After two tense, scoreless periods in front of fans hoping to see the Kings win their first title in their 45-year history, Elias scored on a rebound with 12:04 to play -- but Drew Doughty scored a tying power-play goal for the Kings 1:02 later.
Henrique then scored his third enormous goal of the postseason, taking a pass from David Clarkson and rocketing a wrist shot past Jonathan Quick, the Kings' nearly unbeatable goalie. The Calder Trophy finalist ended two of the Devils' first three playoff series with overtime goals, and he kept New Jersey alive with his latest.
"That's probably the best feeling I've ever had in my whole career," said Clarkson, who took the questionable penalty that led to Doughty's goal. "I saw (Henrique) coming, so I got it to him, and the shot was incredible."
Quick stopped 21 shots for the Kings, but lost his streak of nearly 139 shutout minutes right when he probably could have wrapped up the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The Kings had allowed just one third-period goal in their previous nine games.
Kovalchuk added an empty-netter that sent fans streaming forlornly out into a warm evening in Southern California -- and put the Devils back on their plane with a chance.
"We stayed alive," said Elias, who has two of the Devils' five goals in the series. "Marty had to work hard, but he gave us a chance. All we've got to do it keep playing hard."
With a golden chance for a Hockeywood ending, Los Angeles dropped to 15-3 in its spectacular postseason run, failing to win the franchise's first championship on its first try -- and in its 200th playoff game -- in front of the long-suffering fans who have never seen the Stanley Cup.
Los Angeles set an NHL record by taking a 3-0 lead in all four of its playoff series, but failed three times to close out its opponents in Game 4. Vancouver and Phoenix also won Game 4 before losing Game 5.
The Devils became just the sixth of 26 teams in finals history to force a Game 5 after falling behind 0-3. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs ever rallied with four straight wins in the finals, and only three teams in NHL history have done it in any playoff round.
"I think the last three games could have gone our way as easily as they've gone L.A.'s way," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. "We finally got rewarded tonight."
After a tight-checking game between two very tight teams, Elias' rebound goal put a hush over Staples Center. Six seconds after Clarkson went off with that questionable boarding penalty, Mike Richards passed Anze Kopitar's faceoff win to Doughty, who rocketed a long shot past Brodeur for the fourth goal of his breakthrough postseason.
But after so many minutes of tight defense, New Jersey won it with a stunning goal in transition: Former Kings forward Alexei Ponikarovsky got the puck to Clarkson, who found Henrique across the ice for his first goal since ending the Eastern Conference finals with an overtime goal.
The Kings opened their first Stanley Cup finals in 19 years with two tense overtime victories in New Jersey, surviving largely on the brilliance of Quick. Los Angeles then returned home and routed the Devils 4-0 in Game 3 on Monday night, setting the stage for a celebration.
But the Devils got into the details, and the Kings must regroup.
No surprise given the tremendous stakes, both teams were nervous and jumpy from the opening faceoff in Game 4. Quick got plenty of work early when the Devils got two power plays in the opening minutes, but he made a slick glove save on Petr Sykora's shot in the slot and later scrambled to cover Zach Parise's unobstructed rebound chance.
Slava Voynov and Kopitar hit Brodeur's posts for the Kings in the scoreless first period. Both teams appeared to be as tense as the crowd in the second, with Brodeur making a stellar pad save on Simon Gagne's breakaway chance late.
The NHL unpacked the Stanley Cup deep inside Staples Center before the third period, but it never saw the ice.
Gagne and Trevor Lewis got an outstanding breakaway chance early in the third, but Brodeur sprawled on his back to stop Lewis. Brodeur mishandled the puck moments later and nearly gave it right to Brown, but the deflection off Brown's right skate barely missed the net.
Elias finally slipped in on Quick and slapped home a rebound of Bryce Salvador's shot, putting a pall on the crowd and ending Quick's scoreless streak at 138 minutes, 39 seconds.
The gloom didn't last long: Doughty teed up the latest in his long line of booming shots, and Brodeur was at least partly screened by Anton Volchenkov in front.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Monday, 21 May 2012
Coyotes Claim LA Kings Win
The Clarence Campbell Bowl was in Staples Center for the first time, waiting to be presented by commissioner Gary Bettman to the NHL's Western Conference champions. The Los Angeles Kings' long-suffering fans gathered downtown shortly after dawn, eager to witness a series sweep and a coronation...
And then Captain Coyote and his goalie crashed the party for a win that suggests this series is far from finished.
Shane Doan scored two goals, Mike Smith made 36 saves in his third playoff shutout, and the Phoenix Coyotes emphatically avoided playoff elimination with a 2-0 victory in Game 4 of the conference finals on Sunday.
Ray Whitney and Antoine Vermette had assists for the Coyotes, who avoided the sweep by snapping the eighth-seeded Kings' eight-game winning streak and cancelling Los Angeles' plans to celebrate its first berth in the Stanley Cup finals since 1993. With their backs against the glass, the Coyotes soundly outplayed an opponent that had been on an 11-1 run through the postseason.
"We recognise we put ourselves in a tough position, (but) we also know it has been done," said Doan, Phoenix's captain since 2003 and the sole remaining member of the Winnipeg Jetsteam that moved to the desert in 1996.
"I guess that's what sports are all about, trying to do something that someone hasn't done for a while, try to do things (when) the odds are kind of stacked against you," Doan added. "Nobody wants to be in the position we're in, but everybody wants to prove they can answer that call."
Phoenix still must win three more games to become just the fourth team in NHL history to rally from an 0-3 series deficit, but the Coyotes finally regained the form they showed in knocking off Chicago and Nashville in the first two rounds.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Phoenix. Los Angeles is 7-0 on the road in the playoffs, but the Coyotes can't wait to see another whiteout in their stands.
"Two ways to look at it: They're either due to lose, or we've got to find a way to stop them," Doan said. "Law of averages says you're going to lose eventually on the road, so it happens. Next game wouldn't be a bad one to lose."
Doan scored on a power play in the first period and on a deflected shot in the second, silencing the crowd at the Kings' first loss since April 18. Smith, who has all three of his shutouts on the road, made several impressive saves while outplaying Jonathan Quick for the first time in the series.
"We had nothing to lose," Smith said. "We had to make sure we played our best game. That would give us a chance to win. We obviously had a huge game from Doaner, and it trickled down through our lineup. He was unbelievable. He was such a great leader tonight. Every guy knew that they were going to do their part to try to force this series to Game 5."
Quick stopped 19 shots with little help from his Los Angeles teammates, who were shut out for the first time in the postseason while hitting a bump in what had been one of the most impressive playoff runs in NHL history.
The Kings have reached the Cup final just once in 44 seasons of existence, but their worst game of the postseason prevented them from claiming just the second conference title in franchise history -- and becoming just the second No. 8 seed to win three playoff rounds.
"Phoenix played a really good game and came out hard," Kings defenseman Matt Greene said. "They got a big power-play goal against us there, and they got a big faceoff goal. Smith was awesome tonight. They played well, and we can play better. We need to respond better than that."
The resilient Coyotes are no strangers to adversity after making the playoffs in three straight seasons without an owner or impressive fan support. Asked by Doan and coach Dave Tippett to show their pride in Game 4, the Coyotes showed they're not done with the longest playoff run in franchise history.
"We're going to go home feeling like we can grab some momentum out of this game," Tippett said. "There's some areas we can certainly embrace that we did better in this game than the other games in this series. You go home and try to push it along again. We're in the same situation."
The scene was set for a Kings crowning at Staples Center, but they'll have to have to fly to Phoenix after practice Monday. Los Angeles probably should work on its power play, now in a 3-for-60 slump after going 0 for 6 in Game 4.
"Do I like going back on the road tomorrow? No, absolutely not," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "But that's the way it works. That's why it's four out of seven. Did we think, as not a home-ice team, we weren't ever going to lose a game? No, it's that simple. You're supposed to play 28 games, not 12 or 13, four or five."
With its fans standing and cheering from pregame warmup onward, Los Angeles showed only flashes of its usual aggressive forechecking and speed in Game 4. Phoenix managed just two shots in the first 14 minutes, but Doan still put the Coyotes ahead late in the period, skating out from behind the net and flicking a backhand past Quick.
Doan's first goal in five games snapped Phoenix's 0-for-22 power-play drought and ended the Kings' streak of 30 straight penalties killed, dating to Game 5 of the first round against Vancouver on April 22. Los Angeles also fell behind in a game for just the second time since the second-round opener against St. Louis.
Doan scored again midway through the second period with a deflected shot after Vermette won a faceoff. Doan's shot ricocheted off the camera inside the net, and play briefly continued while the Coyotes raised their arms.
The Kings were awful in the second period, with a failing forecheck and poor passing. Smith nearly gifted a goal to the Kings with a turnover behind his net, but the 40-year-old Whitney dived to deflect Dustin Brown's shot on an open net.
"When you have nothing to lose, you just throw it all out there and see what happens," Whitney said. "You could see we were a little less nervous with the puck."
Although a confluence of big sporting events in downtown Los Angeles threatened to affect the day for Kings fans, they weren't deterred by the traffic nightmares threatened by the Tour of California cycling race outside and a Los Angeles Clippers evening playoff game.
Thousands of black-jerseyed faithful formed lines outside pubs and thronged the streets outside Staples. Most of the seats were already filled by the warm-up, which began at almost the exact moment Peter Sagan won the Tour's final stage on the street outside.
The NBA worried a multiple-overtime playoff game might force a delay of the Clippers' Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, or even force a postponement to Monday.
The Coyotes avoided all overtimes -- and all celebrations.
Friday, 18 May 2012
LA Kings Add Game Three
When Daymond Langkow beat Jonathan Quick on a breakaway and celebrated Phoenix's first lead in the Western Conference finals, captain Dustin Brown was almost curious how his Los Angeles Kings would respond to the first serious adversity they've faced in weeks.
Anze Kopitar scored the tying breakaway goal just 2:07 later, Dwight King added the winner early in the third period and the Kings rolled to the brink of their first Stanley Cup final in 19 years with a 2-1 victory in Game 3 on Thursday night, taking a 3-0 lead in the West finals.
Quick made 18 saves, and the eighth-seeded Kings improved to 11-1 in an undeniably charmed run through the NHL postseason by a franchise with 44 seasons of frustrating, Cup-free history.
For the third straight series, the West's final playoff team will play for a sweep in Game 4 on Sunday.
"Phoenix was a lot better tonight, but we found a way to win," Brown said. "That's what it takes this time of year. It's exciting. There's a lot of guys in here that haven't experienced this ... but the thing that's made this work is how we're handling all this. We're up 3-0 again."
Although the Kings trailed for the first time in nearly 18 periods since April 28, they bounced back swiftly before largely controlling the third period. King scored his fourth goal in three games against the Coyotes, who face a deficit only three teams have overcome in NHL playoff history.
King connected 1:47 into the third, beating Mike Smith high to the glove side. The massive rookie scored two goals in the series opener and added the winner in Game 2.
"Everybody is answering the challenge and being better," said King, who has outscored the Coyotes all by himself in the series. "We're playing good, playing consistent. With the way we're going, we're tough to beat right now."
Smith stopped 26 shots in a standout performance for the third-seeded Coyotes, who must win four straight to reach their first Stanley Cup final in club history.
"None of us planned on being in (a 3-0 hole)," Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. "I don't think it's disbelief, but I think it's disappointed."
In front of a long-suffering crowd gratefully enjoying its unexpected good fortune after decades of disappointment, the Kings dominated the third period in front of Quick. They forechecked relentlessly in the final minutes, forcing Smith to play a long stretch without his goal stick because Phoenix couldn't clear the zone so he could retrieve it.
The crowd soaked in another memorable performance during the best playoff run by this Second Six franchise since Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille led Los Angeles to its only conference title in 1993, while the Coyotes wondered if their own remarkable postseason run has any chance of continuing beyond Sunday.
"We want to play with a lead, but we didn't even have a chance," Phoenix's Mikkel Boedkersaid. "They got a breakaway and came right back. ... They're a good team, and we know that, but the series isn't over. We still have time to win it."
Los Angeles largely dominated the first two games of the series in Glendale, outshooting the Coyotes 88-51 while winning by a combined 8-2. Phoenix had no more luck than Vancouver or St. Louis against the surprising No. 8 seeds, who finished two points behind the Pacific Division champion Coyotes in the regular season before steamrolling the West's top two teams in a combined nine games.
"We'll take a couple of days here and rest up, and what have we got to lose?" Phoenix coach Dave Tippett asked. "We'll come here and play as hard as we can. We'll give a real honest evaluation of who we are and how we got here."
Phoenix played Game 3 without forward Martin Hanzal, who served a one-game suspension for boarding Brown in Game 3. Doan, who escaped suspension for his own hit, took up the job of agitating Brown, facewashing the Kings' high-scoring captain with his glove during one scrum.
After Smith came up with several stellar saves during a scoreless first period, Keith Yandle slipped a long pass behind Mike Richards to Langkow, who beat Quick between the legs for his first goal of the postseason 1:03 into the second. Los Angeles hadn't trailed since the first period of Game 1 in its second-round series with St. Louis 19 days ago.
Staples Center briefly fell silent, but reached full roar moments later when Brown found Kopitar with a long pass behind the Phoenix defense. The Slovenian star beat Smith with a backhand for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
The teams were even in goals and shots heading to the third period, but King quickly put Los Angeles ahead with the latest impressive play of his incredible first NHL playoff run. Moments after Smith made a spectacular point-blank save on Jarret Stoll, King collected the puck during a delayed penalty and wired a high shot past Smith's glove into the top corner of the net.
"What a shot, and an even better look on his face when he saw where it went," Stoll said.
Tippett didn't love the call that created the delayed penalty.
"If I told you what I really thought (about the officiating), I think it would cost me a lot of money," he said.
Kings Host Coyotes in Game 3
The Los Angeles Kings have maintained their discipline and cool during a dominant playoff run that has them two wins away from the team's first Stanley Cup finals appearance since 1993 with Wayne Gretzky.
They've frustrated the Phoenix Coyotes with a mix of balanced scoring, shot-limiting defense and solid goaltending in building a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. If the Coyotes are ticked off, and they sure played like it in losing Game 2, they face even more of an uphill climb in trying to stop the Kings on the road.
The Coyotes will have to do it without one of their top forwards. Martin Hanzal was suspended one game by the NHL on Wednesday for a huge hit on Kings captain Dustin Brown in Game 2.
Hanzal was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding at 11:01 of the third period Tuesday night. He will miss Game 3 on Thursday night at Staples Center.
The punishment wasn't severe enough, according to Kings centre Jarret Stoll.
"Hopefully, he gets two games," Stoll said before the league's ruling came down. "Hopefully, he knew that Brownie was in a vulnerable position. If you're going to finish your check, maybe you grab him and you ride him in and then you close him that way on the boards. You don't shove him in the boards, especially when he's 5, 6 feet from the boards."
Speaking before Hanzal's punishment was announced, Coyotes captain Shane Doan said, "He's very, very valuable and obviously a huge part of our team. Hopefully, they'll understand it's a situation where he really didn't have a choice."
The game's other noteworthy hit was by Doan on Kings forward Trevor Lewis in the second period, when Lewis spun and faced the boards an instant before Doan hit him. Doan got a major boarding penalty and a game misconduct; Lewis' nose was bloodied after he was driven into the boards.
"The Doan thing was kind of tough," Stoll said. "It's a hockey play."
Coyotes coach Dave Tippett agreed.
"I know there's lots of focus put on hits from behind, but to me that's a hockey play where a player puts himself in a vulnerable position," he said. "If you've ever played the game, if you're in that position, in a split second if that guy turns, you can't stop."
Doan's hit came before Coyotes goalie Mike Smith slashed Brown's leg, with Doan's penalty leading to a 5-on-3 advantage that the Kings parlayed into another goal.
"It doesn't make any sense to retaliate," Stoll said. "We were in a good situation to not retaliate. They want to get something going and set the tone maybe for the next game and maybe that was part of their mindset, but we just got to stay within the game, stay within ourselves."
The Kings bring a franchise-record seven-game playoff winning streak into Game 3, having outscored Phoenix 8-2 so far in the series. Adding to the Coyotes' frustration was the fact that they were outshot 40-24 in Game 2, including 15-8 in the first period.
"They got a couple of lucky bounces to get going and once you get going, it piles on itself and confidence is an amazing thing," Doan said after practice in Arizona. "So far, things have gone right for them in the playoffs and that's a credit to the way they've played, the way they've been coached. Once it starts to roll, it seems easier. We've got to find a way to get ours rolling."
Smith spoke to his teammates after Game 2 about not playing their best hockey, and he included himself in the criticism.
"It's one thing to lose when you're playing your best, but when you're losing games when you're not playing up to your capability, that's why it's frustrating," he said. "We start with one win right now and that's all can worry about. We can't win four games in one game. We're not looking too far ahead and this series is far from over."
The Coyotes were called for 13 penalties totaling 56 minutes on Tuesday. Jeff Carter scored two of his three goals while the Kings had a 5-on-3 advantage.
"Frustration can't get the better of us," Tippett said. "Sometimes people expect us to come out and dominate the game, but that's not going to happen. We're a team that hangs around the game and we find a way to win. The frustration of not being able to do that in the first two games certainly was evident. We need to get back to playing the way we can, playing our style and find a way to win."
Monday, 14 May 2012
Monday, 7 May 2012
Clean Sweep for Kings in West
Anze Kopitar skated down Dustin Brown and just plain tackled him, dropping the Los Angeles Kings captain to the ice as a sellout crowd expelled 19 years of frustration.....
Friday, 4 May 2012
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Monday, 23 April 2012
Monday, 16 April 2012
Quick Saves Kings Hopes
When Jonathan Quick rapped his goal stick on his posts as the buzzer sounded, the sellout crowd unleashed 11 years of deferred playoff excitement on their Los Angeles Kings.
After so many false starts and failures, the long-suffering Kings are on the verge of an unlikely breakthrough.
Quick made 41 saves, Dustin Brown scored on a long rebound with 13:30 to play, and the eighth-seeded Kings pushed Vancouver to the edge of a shocking playoff ouster with a 1-0 victory in Game 3 on Sunday night.
Brown sparked the Kings with a crushing second-period hit on Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin, and his fourth goal of a stellar series put the Kings one win away from their first playoff series victory since 2001. They couldn't celebrate until Quick finished off his second career playoff shutout after posting a club-record 10 in the regular season.
"We've gone through a lot this year, but we've always battled out and found a way," Brown said. "It's important for us to understand that we can't take it easy now that we have a three-game lead ... but it feels great to have an opportunity to close out a series at home."
With their stalwart captain and their All-Star goalie playing at their absolute peaks, the Kings earned a chance to finish off the two-time Presidents' Trophy-winning Canucks in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
The Kings also snapped a five-game playoff losing streak at Staples Center. Los Angeles is starved for playoff success after watching first-round defeats the past two years following an eight-year postseason absence.
"This team has been trying to put pieces together for the last six years," Brown said. "It's been a long road, and I really think it's only just starting for us. Going into the series, did this group believe we could beat them? Definitely. We never thought we were going to be up 3-0 in a series against a team that's pretty well dominated this league for the last two years. Still, it's three games, and it takes four to win."
After barely making the playoffs and blowing the Pacific Division title in the final week of the regular season, the Kings stunned the defending Western Conference champions with two 4-2 victories in Vancouver last week, taking a 2-0 lead in a seven-game playoff series for the first time since the Second Six franchise's debut season in 1968.
Vancouver largely controlled the first two periods of Game 3, but Quick kept it even until the Kings got some flow in the third. Anze Kopitar set up the goal with a sharp drop pass to Williams, whose vicious shot that bounced off Cory Schneider's pads straight to Brown.
Los Angeles had a power play for the final 1:35 of regulation, but the Canucks pulled Schneider anyway. Quick beat his stick on the goalposts in celebration after the final buzzer sounded.
"We haven't done anything special yet," Quick said. "There's still work to be done."
Schneider made 19 saves in his first start of the postseason for Vancouver, but also gave up a rebound of Justin Williams' shot leading to Brown's goal. Despite a huge shots advantage, the Canucks failed to score on four power plays, dropping to 0 for 14 in the series.
Vancouver has lost seven of its last eight postseason games since taking a 2-0 lead in last summer's Stanley Cup finals.
"I think you know the stats," Sedin said. "It's not easy, but I think we have the team in here to do it. It's going to turn around, and we all know what can happen. We were there last year. Chicago was one game away from (rallying from an 0-3 first-round series deficit), and we're in the same spot right now."
Three of the previous six Presidents' Trophy winners lost their first-round playoff series.
Canucks coach Alain Vigneault switched goalies for Game 3, benching veteran Roberto Luongo in favor of Schneider's second career playoff start. The change made only a slight difference, but Vancouver clearly still misses leading goal-scorer Daniel Sedin, who's out with an apparent concussion.
"Playing against that team, sometimes you have to be perfect," Schneider said. "You have to try to win a game 1-0 against them, and unfortunately, we just came up one goal short of being perfect. We had every chance to win it. We just couldn't get it done."
Los Angeles hadn't won a home playoff game since beating Vancouver in Game 3 of their 2010 first-round series. The Canucks won the next three games to advance.
Until Brown connected, the Kings put on a quiet offensive performance befitting the NHL's second lowest-scoring team, managing just 11 shots in the first two periods despite six power plays.
Emotions boiled when Brown steamrolled Sedin with a shoulder hit in the Canucks captain's chest early in the second period, sending Sedin crawling to the bench and sparking a fight between Kopitar and Alex Burrows. The hit wasn't penalized, and Sedin returned from a brief trip to the locker room.
Afterward, Sedin confirmed the hit was legal, and Brown spoke of his respect for Sedin.
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