2012 Stanley Cup Final

     Tonight the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils will start their final fight for one of the most coveted trophies in professional sports. Both teams were not expected to be here, but never the less they were able to navigate through their respective conferences to the finals. Through great goal tending, both teams have proven themselves to be worthy.
     LA is an eight seed that had been under performing throughout the year. Jonathan Quick caught fire right at the end of the season and ever since the Kings have been riding him. They have been road warriors and have yet to lose a game on the road. In fact, they have only lost two games this entire playoff run. The Kings are truly the hot team at the moment.
     New Jersey is s sixth seed that was just caught in an incredibly tough division. After failing to to deal with the Rangers, Flyers, and Penguins and finishing fourth in the Atlantic division, the Devils have bested and outlasted all three teams in the post season. Marty Brodeur has turned back the clock at the old age of forty and has shown us all why he will surely be remembered as one of the best goalies of all time. As for the offense, big time players such as Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk have started to show up.
     This match up has all the makings for a great series. Two hot goal tenders, fiery offenses, and passionate fan bases, but who wins?
     Well, the Kings will need to keep throwing pucks at the net and creating movement in the Devil's zone if they want to win. If they can get Brodeur moving in the crease it will be easier to slide it past him. They also need to score early. When you have tow hot net minders, scoring first could be difference in the game. Kopitar, Brown, and Richards will be key in this aspect. They have all been playing very well and can explode towards the net.
     If the Devils want to win, they need to create a lot of defection situations. Quick is nearly impenetrable close to the ice. The Devils will need to get deflections and shots towards the upper half of the goal to beat Quick. New Jersey will also need to control home ice. The Kings feed off their ability to come into another team's building and flat out beat them. Even if New Jersey has to spit the first tow games, it will be better than losing both.
    With all that in mind, this has been a very hard series to predict. As you all know, I was way off earlier this season saying that the Rangers were going to win in 7 over the Red Wings, so I could be way off again. I have the LA Kings in 7. It will be a series filled with plenty of overtimes and one point wins and the Kings will find a way to win the four games they need and bring the Cup to the City of Angels for the first time.

Thanks for reading!