25 May
The Los Angeles Kings won the series with Phoenix Coyotes with a 4 to 1 series win advancing to the Stanley Cup final. Dustin Penner scored the winning goal in overtime. Last time when Los Angeles Kings made a trip to the Cup final was in 1993. Now they will wait to meet the winner of New Jersey Devils and New York Ranger battle. New Jersey leads the series 3 – 2.
What’s remarkable is Kings entered the playoffs seeded No. 8 of the eight playoff teams of the Western Conference. They won 12 games to claim the Western Conference championship.
Justin Williams, Rob Scuderi, Dustin Penner, and Collin Fraser won the Stanley Cup with other teams previously. Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene have been to the Cup final before. Once again they all are going back to the Cup final with the Kings. Willie Mitchell at age 35 will be going to the final for the first time in his 12 season career.
Stanley Cup games will start on June 4, 2012 at 5:00 pm at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The second and third games are also played at Staples Center on June 6th and 11th.