The Los Angeles Kings secured their second Stanley Cup championship in three years with a dramatic double-overtime finisher, downing the New York Rangers 4-1 in the series.
Alec Martinez was the Game 5 hero at 14:43 of the second overtime period when he buried a juicy rebound off of New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist that sealed the deal. The shot deflected off a Rangers defender, angling down toward Lundqvist’s right pad where it jumped out to a streaking Martinez, who basically had an open net to shoot into before Lundqvist could slide over for the save. After the shot crossed the line, Martinez threw off his gloves and dropped his stick in celebration as the rest of the Kings bench joined him.
“It came out pretty quick,” Martinez said of his game-winning goal. “I just tried to get it on net then I blacked out.”
“I haven’t been married and I haven’t had kids, but as far as I’m concerned so far this is the greatest feeling in the world,” Martinez added.
The Kings faced an uphill battle from the beginning, and had to knock off three Western Conference heavyweights to get to the Finals. Finishing the season as the sixth overall seed in the West, the Kings had to go through the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks – two heavily favored teams in this year’s playoffs – and finally the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals to earn their berth to the Stanley Cup Finals. Each series leading up to the Stanley Cup matchup against the Rangers went seven games for the Kings.
“We really earned it,” said forward Justin Williams,who was named the Conn Smythe trophy winner as playoff MVP. Williams finished the playoffs with 25 points, including the opening tally of the Kings’ game five win.
Los Angeles took a strangle-hold on the series against the Rangers, going up 3-0. The Rangers took Game 4 at home with a 2-1 victory in which Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves. However, the team simply couldn’t pull off a second consecutive victory against the Kings, who dominated much of the play throughout the third period and into overtime.
Lundqvist faced 51 shots in Game 5 to Jonathan Quick’s 30. The Rangers goalie was also visibly frustrated late in regulation with the amount of turnovers plaguing his team’s defense.
“During the regular time (Lundqvist) made some big saves,” said New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneult after the loss. “Had some real good looks. Both goaltenders were outstanding.”
The Kings are the 17th team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup in overtime, and the first to do so at home since the 1908 Islanders.
Check out video of Alec Martinez’s game-winning double-overtime goal below.
