The Los Angeles Kings are suddenly the most entertaining team in hockey. Even when they're losing.
The Los Angeles Kings decided to pick up where they left off in the Western Conference Final, getting themselves into a wild, back-and-forth game to kick off the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers.
The two teams combined for three goals on 27 shots in the first period on Wednesday night, with all three goals coming during one sensational four-minute stretch.
It all started with Benoit Pouliot scoring his fourth goal of the postseason when he pounced on a Drew Doughty turnover at the blue line and beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick on a clean breakaway.
Just one minute after that, the Kings were presented with an opportunity to get the equalizer when Mats Zuccarello was sent off for holding Tanner Pearson. Unfortunately for the Kings, that power play did not prove to be much of an advantage. Instead, New York ended up outshooting Los Angeles 3-0 on the power play, including a shorthanded goal for Carl Hagelin that was accidentally kicked in by Kings defenseman Slava Voynov.
That all came just moments after their coach, Darryl Sutter, told NBC's Pierre McGuire that he didn't think there was anything wrong with the Kings' start.
But because there are the Kings and their games have been non-stop chaos this postseason, they had an answer. And it was an unlikely source that got them on the board when Kyle Clifford drove to the front of the net and beat Henrik Lundqvist with a floater of a shot that beat him from a tough angle.
