Los Angeles at New Jersey

It is hard to overlook the changes in this LA Kings team. They barely squeaked into the playoffs and over the first half of the season they managed to stay in a lot of games because of their play on the back-end of the ice. They were a team that struggled to score and, as good as the defense was, they were losing close, low scoring games. The Kings sputtering offense managed to score more than two goals in a game just 18 times through their first 59 games, or just 30.5% of the time. My how things have changed. The Kings offense came alive from that point on as they have now scored three or more times in 24 of their last 38. That is 63.2% of the time. The defense still plays at a high level, but the offense is now capable of winning games as well and that recipe has them in the Stanley Cup Finals, up one game to none on the Devils, as a #8 seed. They are 13-2 in the playoffs, all against teams hat are supposed to be better than them, and have outscored them by nearly a two to one ratio at 43-23. The Devils had scored three or more goals in 14 of their 17 playoff games, but were no match for the Kings as they were frustrated offensively time and time again, managing just a single goal in game one. We have the dog here in this one, who is simply the better team. Play on LA.