Los Angeles Kings excited to be advancing, end 11-year drought -NHL Playoffs Update
Fans and the whole city of Los Angeles was ecstatic after the Kings eliminated Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Playoff Quarterfinals and advancing to the second-round for the first time
in 11-years.
Los Angeles finally ended the playoff drought by winning their first series in over a decade and that too, being against the last year’s Stanley Cup finalists. Beating Vancouver made the reason to celebrate even stronger.
Kings’ Jarret Stoll made the game-winning goal in overtime in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, something he never knew would give him so much joy.
"We realize there's a lot of work ahead of us still, but it feels great," Jarret Stoll said. "So many guys haven't won a playoff series before on our team, and the organization not winning one in the past 11 years, it's pretty special."
Jonathan Quick played amazingly well for Los Angeles in the net and outplayed not only Cory Schneider but also Vancouver’s veteran goalie, Roberto Luongo, who was ousted after losing Game 2.
"That's an awesome thing for these guys, to win a playoff series," Los Angeles coach, Darryl Sutter, said. "A lot of them had never played in one. A lot of them had never won one, so that's awesome. That's the reason you don't forget about it, but the only
thing you have to be careful of in winning is not to forget how you win."
Now Los Angeles Kings will definitely need to prepare as they face-off against the Western Conference’s second number seed, the St. Louis Blues, who themselves are having a turnaround in performance.
Blues defeated the Kings state rivals, San Jose Sharks, with the same 4-1 record and are determined to take their confidence all the way this time around.
The playoffs this year have brought some disappointments for some teams and celebrations for others. St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings are two very competitive teams that have some of the best defensive players in the league.
There is no set date for the beginning of the semi-finals as of yet, but is soon to be announced.
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