Los Angeles and the 2014 Kings won a Stanley Cup championship! Like every cup winner, this team had its superstars and its role players. This team, however, played a suffocating defensive game led by Head Coach Darryl Sutter. In the playoffs, the team went through a Hollywood (ironic) run to grind out a Stanley Cup championship. In this trip back to 2014, we pay homage to the 2014 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings by re-living their glory in Hollywood.
Led by Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Captain Dustin Brown, and depth pieces, Los Angeles finished with the best defense in the league as the Kings amassed 100 points. Doughty logged over 25 minutes of ice time per game while finishing top five in team scoring. Supplementing Doughty was a rugged defense core comprised of gritty defender Jake Muzzin, reliable and stable d-man Alec Martinez. Their two-way forwards only helped the defense while producing decent offense. Kopitar was a top defensive forward in the league and had a 53% faceoff win percentage as the team’s leading scorer with 70 points, and Brown brought heart and sparks to LA while launching over 240 blinding hits. Veterans Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Justin Williams chipped in over 40 points with solid defensive prowesses, and veteran Marian Gaborik put up 16 points in 19 games. In the bottom six, Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Jarett Stoll, Dwight King, Trevor Lewis, and Kyle Clifford brought inspiration with momentum-turning hits while adding standard offense. LA was bullet-proof defensively when it came to skaters as the Kings bought into a smothering defensive approach.
On the last line of defense, Jonathan Quick backstopped the LA Kings with rookie Martin Jones as his backup. In 2014, Quick won the William M. Jennings Trophy for lowest goals-against-average with a 2.07 GAA. Quick was previously an all-star in 2012 with a second-team all-star selection. In that magical 2012 season, Quick proved he was a superstar with 35 wins and a .929 save percentage. His performance landed him fifth in Hart Trophy voting as league MVP and second in Vezina Trophy voting. In the playoffs, his magical poise led the Kings to their first Stanley Cup and earned the Conn Smyth Trophy as playoff MVP. Like Quick, Backup Goaltender Martin Jones was top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting in 2016 and 2017. In net, Los Angeles had two game-stealing goalies at their fingertips ready to bail them out.
Despite finishing with 100 points, they were the sixth seed, yet they still prevailed against powerhouse teams. In the first round, their state rival, the San Jose Sharks, jumped to a 3-0 lead against the Kings, already putting LA on the brink of elimination, but the Kings trudged into the second round after defeating San Jose in game seven. Waiting for them was another state rival, the Anaheim Ducks, who jumped out to a 3-2 series lead (with rookie John Gibson playing the last three games) and pushed LA to their limits once again. Eventually, LA won game six at home 2-1 and blew the Ducks out 6-2 in the tie-breaker. Against the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, the Kings started on the right foot and comforted themselves with a 3-1 lead before Chicago pushed them to a game seven in Chicago, where LA won 5-4 with an Alec Martinez overtime winner to punch a ticket to the Stanley Cup Final. In the Stanley Cup Final, two of North America’s three biggest cities would play against each other as the New York Rangers sought a second Stanley Cup like the Kings. This Stanley Cup Final was heart-stopping because one goal decided four of the five games, and three of the games required overtime, including the decisive finale. Luckily for the Los Angeles Kings, they came out on top as Stanley Cup Champions, and they became history.
