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Peter DeBoer, in the eyes of many, was a surprise choice as the next coach of the New Jersey Devils. Fresh off the franchise's worst season in recent memory, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello last summer turned to DeBoer to rescue a team that was low on morale, lower on scoring punch and desperate for a new identity.

Playing in the Stanley Cup Finals is a serious matter, of course, but you begin to question that if you're around Dustin Penner for a good bit of time.

The Los Angeles Kings were five points out of a playoff spot and stood a wobbly 11th in the Western Conference on Dec. 22, the day Darryl Sutter made his debut as their coach.

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How long has it been since the Stanley Cup finalists, the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils, occupied the same ice surface?

Joe Namath made guarantees. Mark Messier made guarantees. Nowadays, half of the NBA and NFL make guarantees. Henrik Lundqvist would sooner have laid pickled herring in his crease to feed the hungry New Jersey forecheck than to have publicly assured a victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Memorial Cup winner. Olympic gold medalist. World Junior champion. Stanley Cup champion.

The men charged with shaping the Red Wings will meet for three days starting Saturday to discuss how to improve the team for the 2012-13 campaign.

Justin Williams remembers every game of the Carolina Hurricanes' 25-game grind through the 2006 playoffs. He knows all about the blood, sweat and exhaustion necessary to raise the Stanley Cup.

After a monumental turnaround from their less-than-overwhelming regular season, the Flyers have reached the Stanley Cup Finals.

With Martin Brodeur nearing his 40th birthday and entering the final year of his contract, this season at first had the look of a last hurrah for the New Jersey Devils' goalie great.

They are taking timely turns with the Conn Smythe baton, almost. From captain Dustin Brown to defenseman Drew Doughty to center Anze Kopitar.

Los Angeles Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi blamed members of the Phoenix Coyotes for inciting fans at Jobing.com Arena to hurl debris at players and Coach Darryl Sutter on Tuesday after the Kings won the Western Conference title.

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Moments after sending the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 2003, Adam Henrique skated to the corner and waited to be mobbed by his teammates.

Simon Gagne thought the Los Angeles Kings would be a Stanley Cup contender. That's why he signed with them as a free agent last summer.

Whether the New York Rangers truly believed they could overcome a 3-2 playoff series deficit earlier this year doesn't matter now.

For Willie Mitchell, it has been nine years since he just missed out on the chance to play in the Stanley Cup Final, and two years since his hockey-playing future was in serious doubt because of a lingering concussion.

For most of us, it's a no-brainer. In a few days, either the New Jersey Devils will again be in a Stanley Cup Finals or the New York Rangers and their Darth Vader coach will be. Either way it doesn't really matter, because we'd pull for a team with Darth, Lord Voldemort, the real Bundy (not Chris Therien) and the real Lucipher before we'd pull for either team.

He asked for prayers before Game 5. Yet after the Devils had the final amen on this crazy night of playoff hockey, John Tortorella asked for only one thing from his team.

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Drew Doughty began this season holding out for a $56 million contract from the Los Angeles Kings, demanding and getting an enormous sum for a kid with more potential than accomplishment.

The voice on the phone was animated, a Los Angeles Kings fan talking about the team's run to the Stanley Cup Final with the passion typical of their loyal, long-suffering audience.

When asked what his inefficient forwards needed to do to beat Martin Brodeur in the Eastern Conference final, irascible Rangers coach John Tortorella simply said: "Pray."

The New Jersey Devils never could have imagined they would have a three-goal lead on the New York Rangers less than 10 minutes into Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals at hostile Madison Square Garden.

Hint No. 1 that this was something big.

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The crowd was dozens deep and hundreds wide, screaming and chanting and surrounding the Los Angeles Kings' cars as they drove home after writing another improbable chapter in the big, mostly empty book that holds their franchise history.

The Vancouver Canucks signed coach Alain Vigneault to a contract extension, ending speculation that the team's playoff loss to Los Angeles might cost him the job.

The Clarence Campbell Bowl, awarded to the champion of the NHL's Western Conference, is not what the Los Angeles Kings dreamed of lifting or kissing or winning this season.

There was the celebratory group hug taking place by the glass, followed by a loud chorus of boos and then objects being tossed on the ice by some fans.

The Phoenix Coyotes avoided a sweep with a gutty performance in Los Angeles. They couldn't do it again back home in the desert, though the disappointment shouldn't linger too long.

The Phoenix Coyotes avoided a sweep with a gutty performance in Los Angeles. They couldn't do it again back home in the desert, though the disappointment shouldn't linger too long.

A great road playoff run has the Los Angeles Kings in a place they haven't been since the Great One was skating in Southern California.

A great road playoff run has the Los Angeles Kings in a place they haven't been since the Great One was skating in Southern California.

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Special-teams play is considered crucial to playoff success, but the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup a year ago with a so-so power play and the Los Angeles Kings reached the Western Conference finals this spring without getting significant production with a man advantage.

If you have any doubt the New Jersey Devils are frustrating the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference finals, just look at Game 4.

He wasn't invoking the wisdom of hockey greats such as the legendary Gordie Howe or even Wayne Gretzky, a star with some serious Kings' cred in his background.

The Phoenix Coyotes had every reason to concede the Western Conference finals to the Los Angeles Kings.

If success had dulled the Los Angeles Kings' memory of what it felt like to lose, if eliminating the Vancouver Canucks in five games, sweeping the St. Louis Blues and taking the first three games of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Coyotes had made them forget how deeply a defeat can sting, it all came back to them Sunday afternoon.

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First, the feared traffic nightmare didn't materialize Sunday, when cycling and hockey fans minded their transit rules in the morning. Then another doomsday scenario was averted when the Phoenix Coyotes and goalie Mike Smith cooperated by shutting out the Kings.

LOS ANGELES - Now the Kings will feel some heat.

Cancel the coronation, or at least postpone it. The Phoenix Coyotes are still hanging around.

The Clarence Campbell Bowl was in Staples Center for the first time, waiting to be presented by Commissioner Gary Bettman to the NHL's Western Conference champions. The Los Angeles Kings' long-suffering fans gathered downtown shortly after dawn, eager to witness a series sweep and a coronation.

John Tortorella stood out again at a playoff news conference. Only this time it was because of his feistiness toward the New Jersey Devils and not for his brevity and contentiousness with the media.

The Los Angeles Kings substantially have rewritten their postseason record book this spring. Now, they're poised to put a serious dent in the NHL's record book.

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