Kings Winning With Superstars

Yesterday night, after the second game, it occurred to me the difference-maker in the series so far. Both games one and two have went to overtime with a Kings superstar netting the winning goal. Both goals have been very nice individual plays, which have come off the sticks of Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter. The trend I'm starting to see in this series, a big part of why the Kings are winning, are their superstars. Not only are they playing better, especially compared to the Devils big guns, but they have lots of them, which can be a recipe for disaster. Sometimes for the other team, and, of course, sometimes for their own team, which we saw early on this season from the Kings. It just so happens now is the time when they are finally putting it all together. It may just be the perfect time to do so.

The Kings have only scored four goals in the series, three of them coming from the big boys. I mentioned Kopitar and Carter, the overtime heroes thus far, but the other has been Drew Doughty. Doughty not only made most of our jaws drop last night with the move he put on Ryan Carter at the blueline followed by a beautiful shot past Martin Brodeur, but he has done a little bit of everything. He has been very physical, as we saw with two huge hits on the Devils Stephen Gionta and Zach Parise last night along the boards. In his defensive zone, he has been solid, not allowing the Devils much room to work. The Devils forecheck was the key to them getting to this point in the playoffs, however, the Kings have found a way to really shut them down with creative breakouts on the dump ins.

Some of the other Kings superstars beyond Kopitar, Carter, and Doughty are Mike Richards, Dustin Brown, and maybe the most important, Jonathon Quick. So far, these players are getting the job done. Richards has been great on the penalty kill and makes a great line along with Carter. Dustin Brown has been physical while staying out of the box, which is the one thing the Kings have to do. Quick, once again, has been unbelievable. In game one, the Kings controlled most of the game. However, last night, the Devils had a good start and continued to get better as the game went on. They had way more shots than in game one and really peppered Quick at times. However, only the one tip by Carter found the back of the net. 

When comparing the superstars, the Kings have more of them and they are playing better. Zach Parise has been almost silent this series, getting only some whacks in front of the net on loose pucks but nothing significant. Ilya Kovalchuk has had the puck a lot, but unlike last series when he would shoot as much as possible, he hasn't done that in this series. The ones he has let off Quick has found easy to stop, he's missed the net, or it has been blocked by a strong Kings defense. Meanwhile, the Kings stars have scored 75% of their goals and their biggest superstar has been the best player in the series, Jonathon Quick. If they win the Cup, he is easily their Conn Smythe winner.

If the Devils want to win, they need to continue their play from game two. Get shots on net, including more from Kovalchuk and Parise, while finding tips and screens in front of Quick. If he sees the puck, he will stop it. They have to be hard fought goals like some of the ones the fourth line has produced. The Kings must stay out of the box as the Devils powerplay is absolutely lethal. If the series continues to be stars vs. stars, the Kings will win. They just have too many of them to lose if some other Devils players don't step up.