The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup the hard way, ending their marathon playoff run with a double overtime thriller.
A post-season that started with the Kings having to dig themselves out of a three-game hole against San Jose ended Friday night in a 3-2 double-overtime triumph over the New York Rangers to seal their second Cup in three seasons.
The final lasted five games, with three going to overtime — including two double OT contests. It was the only playoff series that didn’t go the distance for the Kings.
Martinez got the winner at 14:43 of the second O/T that was a fitting conclusion to a post-season had prior to making the final’s.
It was the 26th game of the Los Angles playoff run, matching the single-year league record set by Philadelphia in 1987 and Calgary in 2004.
Both lost in a seven-game series in the final, but LA managed to set a record for most playoff games by a Cup winner.
The Kings had to go through a murderer’s row in the West just to get to the final after finishing 10th in the league with a 46-26-8 record and 100 points. Los Angles had to get by San Jose (111 points), Anaheim (116) and defending champion Chicago (107) in one of the most gruelling post-season routes on record.
They overcame a 3-2 series deficit in the second round against Anaheim and rallied from 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 deficits in Game 7 of the Western Conference final in Chicago.
Their latest campaign lasted 115 games, counting seven pre-season, 82 regular-season and a record 26 post-season contests.
Los Angeles went 7-0 in playoff elimination games along the way. Only the 1975 Islanders won more (eight).
The Kings are only the fourth team in playoff history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit in rallying to beat the Sharks in the first round. And they are the first team to play — and win — three Game 7s on the road in a single post-season.
Throughout it all burned the belief that if the Kings played their game, they knew they were tough to beat.
It was the 17th Stanley Cup-clinching overtime goal in NHL history.
The Kings never held a lead in the first three games of the cup final, but did manage to win in double O/T to take the Championship.
The Kings led for a short 14.6% of the first four games, which was all in Game 3.
The Kings trailed 2-0 the first two games of the series but rallied both times to win in OT.
They have four victories this post-season when they were trailing after two periods and in the latest comeback shutdown New York’s remarkable 5-0 record in elimination games.
The win improved the Kings’ playoff overtime record in 2014 to 5-2.
LA outshot the Rangers 12-3 in the period and 29-15 in regulation, but they finished seeing LA outshoot the Rangers 51-30.
That New York outburst silenced the sellout crowd of 18,713 at StaplesCenter.
The Rangers were 11-1 when leading after two periods in the playoffs and had won 39 of 43 games in that scenario including the regular season. But L.A. refused to go quietly.
The Kings have outscored their opponents 30-16 in the third period this post-season, including 3-0 in the Cup final.
Friday’s game was the 93rd game of the 2014 playoffs, surpassing the previous single-year record of 92 established in 1991.
It was also the 63rd post-season game for the Kings dating to 2012, tying the NHL record for most games over a three-year span (Dallas, 1998-00; Detroit: 2007-09).
It was the 25th post-season game for the Rangers, who finished 12th in the league at 45-31-6 and 96 points but still made it to their first final in 20 years by eliminating Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Montreal.
Going into Friday, the Rangers were 5-0 when facing elimination. Lundqvist led the way in such games with a 1.00 goals-against average and .971 save percentage.
The Rangers’ record in elimination matches is now 11-3 dating back to 2012.
The Kings are ranked 26th in the league in average (GPG) during the regular season, averaging 2.42 a game.
It was the 26th overtime game of the playoffs, tied for the third-highest total in one year (the record of 28 was set in 1993).
Los Angeles is the 17th team in NHL history to win the Cup in overtime and the first to do so at home since the 1908 Islanders.
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