The LA Kings' glorious NHL playoffs road form continued with a second overtime win in New Jersey to make them firm favourites to claim their first Stanley Cup.
Jeff Carter scored 13 minutes into overtime to give the Kings a 2-1 win and a 2-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils. The Kings are now 10-0 on the road in the 2012 playoffs and a phenomenal 14-2 overall.
The New Jersey faithful streamed away in close to silence having again come so close and yet come away with nothing after losing Game One in overtime too. It is the first time since 1951 (Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens) that the first two Stanley Cup finals games have been settled in overtime.
The Kings are the twelfth team to win the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals on the road. The good news for the Devils is that two of the previous 11 contrived to the lose the finals. Nine, however, did win the Cup.
Drew Doughty gave the Kings an early lead with a fabulous end-to-end goal that saw him bamboozle three Devils.
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For the next period-and-a-half the Devils found it hard to impose themselves and again struggled to get enough shots on target. But in the third period came the leveller from Ryan Carter which forced overtime.
Just being in the Stanley Cup finals is enough for some fans.
"We didn't expect to make the playoffs at all this year so we've been fortunate to have two extra months of hockey," said Donna, wearing her special playoffs jersey complete with ten years worth of pins. "Beating the Rangers was like winning the Cup, anyway. Maybe better than winning the Cup."
Randy, also from New Jersey, added that a highlight of the playoff run had been the emergence of rookie Adam Henrique and the late arrival in big time hockey of Stephen Gionta. The 28-year-old Gionta has long lived in the shadow of his older brother Brian and, despite being with the New Jersey organisation for six years, only scored his first NHL goal in April.
But these Devils fans may be fortunate to see more playoff hockey this season. The Kings have only lost two playoff games in 2012 and would dearly love to lift the Cup in LA.
LA veteran Dusty Penner said: "We've been building confidence since Game One. I think it was a big step for us when we went into Vancouver and beat them the first game. It's a snowball effect and we just keeping adding more snow after each win."
Hockey is at its most popular in Los Angeles since the glory days when Wayne Gretzky was tempted to La La Land. Gretzky had more playoff goals, assists and points than any other NHL player ever. But, despite his talent and Stanley Cup-winning pedigree in Edmonton, Gretzky never won the Cup for LA.
