The man might be 44, but it actually took the Los Angeles Kings 45 years to win the Stanley Cup for the first time.
They become the fourth expansion team from the 1967 class to have won the Cup. The Philadelphia Flyers did it in the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Penguins did it in 1991, and the New Jersey Devils won theirs in 1995.
It took a while, but they finally did it. One would think that they would've accomplished this feat during the Wayne Gretzky or Luc Robitaille era. Instead, it's Jonathan Quick who has cemented himself in Kings history for the rest of his career.
Quick won the Conn Smythe Trophy after an inspiring run in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, lifting the No. 8 seeded Kings past the No. 1 Vancouver Canucks, No. 2 St. Louis Blues and the No. 3 Phoenix Coyotes all in order.
Not only did they dispose of those teams, they pretty much dismantled them, going 12-2 in the first three rounds.
Then in the Stanley Cup Final against the New Jersey Devils, they jumped out to a quick 3-0 series lead before claiming the Cup in Game 6, finishing the playoffs with an astounding 16-4 record.
It seemed like the franchise was letting go of almost half a century of frustration in every playoff game. They weren't ready to succumb to anyone. This was their time. Game 6 summarized the bottled up anger in one game when the Kings erupted for six goals, as if to say, "Take that!"
They were the No. 8 seed, but they almost immediately threw that label out the window during their run.
Even hockey pundits could agree that this team wasn't the typical No. 8 seed. Before the season started, they acquired Mike Richards to add to an offense with Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Ju...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
