The Los Angeles Kings took on the Chicago Blackhawks in their third Game 7 of this post-season, breaking several unlikely records along the way. The Kings were the first NHL team to ever face three game 7’s on the road during the playoffs and actually win all three of them. They also became the first NHL team to play 21 games before heading to the Stanley Cup Final.
Two seasons ago, we saw the Kings head to the Stanley Cup and take out the numbers 1, 2, and 3 seeds of the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks in five games, the St. Louis Blues in four games and the Phoenix Coyotes in fives games and defeat the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup in six games despite being the number 8th seed in the Western Conference.
Game 7 of the Western Conference Final would have been hard for the Kings if they Hawks would have won the game. Being up 3-1 in the series, the Kings had to head back to the United Center to play Game 7 and were victorious on the road. The Kings had to rally up 3 times Sunday night to defeat the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, 5-4, in overtime with an incredible finish and goal by Alec Martinez to send the Kings to the Stanley Cup.
The first period was very similar to Game 5, which was also played in United Center. Five goals were allowed in the first period and couldn’t have been a better first period. Brandon Saad put the Blackhawks first on the board. 5 minutes into the game, Shaw assisted Patrick Kane who then passed it from behind the net to Saad to snap a shot from the goal line to the left of the net and bounced off Jonathan Quick and into the goal line to make it 1-0.
Three minutes later, Jonathan Toews gave Chicago a 2-0 lead during a power play. Brent Seabrook shot the puck to goal, which bounced off Patrick Kane in front of Quick and went right to Toews on the rebound to tap in the puck.
Three goals were made in less than 63 seconds with 4 minutes left to go in the 1st period. LA scored two of those goals in less than a minute. Jeff Carter, who is now 7-0 in game 7s when scoring first for the Kings, opened the scoring for the Kings. In a rebound shot from Captain Dustin Brown, Carter batted the puck in the air and into the net. Officials reviewed it to see how high his stick went, but it was just underneath the crossbar.
51 seconds later, Justin Williams, who is also 7-0 in game 7’s, leveled the score. Voynov’s shot also rebounded off Crawford, and Williams was there to shot the puck in the net.
Photo by: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
But only 12 seconds later, the Hawks took a 3-2 lead in a play where Sharp carried the puck along the right wall and sent the shot towards Quick, which bounced off his right leg pad and went into the net.
After the first period, Rookie Tyler Toffoli, who has been great this post-season for the Kings, tied the game at 3-3 during the second period.
But with one minute left to go in the second period, Sharp’s second goal of the night put Chicago up 4-3.
Marian Gaborik, who leads goals scoredthis post-season, scored his 12th goal in the 3rd period to bring life back to the game and tie the game at 4-4 with 7 minutes left in the 3rd period and force the second overtime of this series. Dustin Brown carried the puck into the Hawk’s zone and drifted to his right to create some space and then snapped the shot on goal. Gaborik was there to get the rebound and backhand the puck into the net. This was the third time the Kings had to rally up from a deficit. The Hawks had a chance to end the game during the third period with 10 seconds to go, but Quick was there to save the puck and force the game to overtime.
Overtime took place and both the Hawks and Kings were fighting for the goal to get a ticket to the Stanley Cup final but it was Martinez who was the hero for the Kings in overtime. During the play, Williams came from behind the line to take the puck away from Center Marcus Kruger, help Alec Martinez set up the play and shot the winning goal, which hit defenseman Nick Leddy and pass Corey Crawford.
Saad (6), Toews (9), and Sharp (5) all scored for the Blackhawks while Carter (9), Williams (7), Toffoli (7), Gaborik (12), and Martinez (4) all scored for the LA Kings with Justin Williams now having 14 points in the post-season.
The Kings will have to reset one more time, like Coach Darryl Sutter said during the post-game interview and be ready to face the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup. The Kings survived a 0-3 deficit against the Sharks to win it 4-3, and a 3-2 deficit against the Anaheim Ducks in the second round to win it 4-3 as well. The Kings fought hard against the Chicago Blackhawks, and despite giving a 3-1 lead away, they were able to come back to United Center and win it 4-3 in the Western Conference final.
The Kings will host the New York Rangers in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, which will take place Wednesday night at 8PM ET/5PM PT.