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Kings Complete Comeback, Shock Sharks With Historic Game 7 Win

Noah Sachartoff |
May 1, 2014 | 5:22 a.m. PDT

Staff Writer

Kings players celebrate after Anze Kopitar's game-winning goal near the end of the second period during Wednesday night's Game 7 in San Jose (@USATodaySports/Twitter)
Kings players celebrate after Anze Kopitar's game-winning goal near the end of the second period during Wednesday night's Game 7 in San Jose (@USATodaySports/Twitter)
1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. 1975 New York Islanders. 2010 Philadelphia Flyers.

2014 Los Angeles Kings, welcome to the club.

The team that only two years ago left the hockey world speechless, steamrolling through the top three seeded teams in the Western Conference en-route to becoming the first eighth-seed to win the Stanley Cup, did something tonight that we thought was truly impossible. 

They found another way to shock us.

Now, four teams in NHL history (and five in all American sports) have ever proved the impossible comeback possible. Kings forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, both members of the Flyers squad that stunned the Boston Bruins in 2010, are the only two players ever to complete the comeback twice. Now, with their crosshairs focused about 30 miles down The 5-Freeway, they look to continue to blaze yet another historic trail.

After digging themselves into the deepest hole they possibly could, embarrassing themselves twice on the road, and then finding themselves on the brink of elimination not once, not twice, not three times, but four, this team found a dose of the poise that they had been looking for since their magical Cup run only two years ago.

One step at a time, these Kings have started to look like the Kings of 2012 again. Jonathan Quick looks like Jonathan Quick again. The defense looks like the defense again. The penalty kill unit held the Sharks to 0 goals in their last 14 power plays. The team that won ten of eleven road playoff games in 2012, but one of eleven since then, entered one of the most hostile environments in all of sports, and not only beat, but completely overpowered the Sharks in their own tank.

The Kings, built from the ground up for the playoffs by General Manager Dean Lombardi, have found their way once again. 

 

Players and coaches from the Kings and Sharks participate in the traditional handshake line at the end of the series. (@LAKings/Twitter)
Players and coaches from the Kings and Sharks participate in the traditional handshake line at the end of the series. (@LAKings/Twitter)


Watching the Sharks after the final buzzer Wednesday night was truly painful for any hockey fan, even Kings fans. By the time the final buzzer sounded, those still in the SAP Center in San Jose were completely dumbfounded. They could barely process what they had witnessed. Those who remained couldn't figure out how to react. As longtime Kings' play-by-play man Bob Miller said, as eloquently as ever, "You don't hear the 'Beat LA' chants any more, cause the building is half empty."

Sharks Captain Joe Thornton, seconds after the final buzzer. (@PeteBlackburn/Twitter)
Sharks Captain Joe Thornton, seconds after the final buzzer. (@PeteBlackburn/Twitter)


Wholesale changes are about to come for this Sharks franchise following their monumental collapse, but one thing that will not change, and will only grow (if it didn't already peak this week), is their bitter rivalry with the Kings. Since 2010, 41 games, including three playoff series, two Game 7's, and now one historic comeback/collapse, have undisputdely cemented these teams as each others' number one rivals, right on the heels of the first ever playoff series between the Kings and Ducks, one that fans have looked forward to for years in hopes of advancing those teams past their measly crosstown "rivalry."

One thing is certain, however. The Kings are back. Those Kings are back. There is a special stigma to this team. One that was felt in 2012. Not so much last year, and definitely not a week ago, but today, it's almost as present as ever. This is the kind of team you look forward to telling your kids about in the future. Whether or not they are raising the Cup in a few weeks, stories will be told for ages of the historic level of poise, dedication and grit that led to only the fifth incarnation of the most hallowed comeback in American sports.

But today, and looking forward, after watching the way they absolutely picked apart a Sharks team that finished with 111 regular season points and scored 13 goals in two games against the Kings and Jonathan Quick, even the most casual hockey fan must conclude that this team looks absolutely unbeatable right now.

After watching these past four games, could anyone in hockey really envision the Kings losing a game? Let alone losing four out of seven to any one team? That's not to imply that the Kings will sweep the Ducks and roll into Lord Stanley's Cup the way they did two years ago. But in the NHL, more than any other sport, seeding doesn't win championships - getting hot at the right time does. And boy have they found the right time. But ask the Kings how they feel about their championship chances, and you'll get the same answer we all got after Game 3 (and 4, 5 and 6) against the Sharks. 

"One game at a time."

Perhaps the single most cliche line in all of sports, one that we hear every postseason in every league from every team that goes up or down in a series, no team embodies its spirit the way these Kings do. As fans and media, it is our job to speculate about what's next and look further ahead than the players care to even think about. But one thing seems clear.

If the Kings continue to live "one game at a time," the team, its fans and the entire hockey world are in for a long, fun month of Kings hockey.


Follow Staff Writer Noah Sachartoff on Twitter.



 

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