Now after winning eight of their nine postseason games, the Kings have moved from the shacks of South Central to the oceanfront property of Malibu.
After sweeping the second-seeded St. Louis Blues to advance to the Western Conference Finals, the Kings have all of the momentum in the world behind them and have become the elite team in this year's playoffs.
Not bad for a No. 8 seed.
Despite all of their questions offensively, the Kings outscored the Blues 15-6 in the series and trailed for a total of seven minutes in the series.
The Blues came in as one of the best defensive teams in the NHL led by goaltender Brian Elliott, who had been nearly flawless before facing the Kings.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles dominated the entire series forcing several penalties on the Blues, and driving St. Louis head coach Ken Hitchock crazy in the process.
Dustin Brown scored two goals including an empty-netter in the series-clinching game and proved to be just as dominant in the second round as he was in the first.
Anze Kopitar led all players with six points in the series and goaltender Jonathan Quick showed exactly why he is Vezina trophy material posting a 4-0 record with a GAA of 1.50 and a save percentage of .941.
With every King contributing, Los Angeles was able to silence the Blues and shock the rest of the hockey world by making its deep run in the playoffs look so easy.
The Kings applied severe pressure on the forecheck by sending three men at a time and proving St. Louis would be unable to set up anything offensively.
Despite a second period where they outshot L.A., 13-2, St. Louis was unable to get anything past Quick.
The Blues entered the postseason giving up 1.89 goals per game, a number good enough to le...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
