Kings coming up aces

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Los Angeles Kings' centre Jeff Carter does a royal waltz after scoring a third-period goal Monday night. (MARK TERRILL / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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LOS ANGELES -- This was not your typical L.A. story, where the trailers are superior to the actual movie.

You know the feeling, you get all jacked up watching the previews and then put down your 12 bucks for the flick and it sucks. You're left feeling hollow, ripped off and maybe even a little steamed.

For Los Angeles Kings fans there was none of that emotion on Monday night as the game lived up the billing, the previews and the people's expectations.

The Kings pushed over the New Jersey Devils with a 4-0 win, riding their first offensive explosion of this series. Los Angeles now leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and is in position to capture the first Stanley Cup in franchise history on Wednesday night.

The Kings are now 15-2 in the post-season and have moved out to a 3-0 edge in all four of their rounds. They've been dominant, and but for a few moments, have yet to be tested in a series. The Devils will have to make a deal with their namesake to get back into this series and prevent a parade in the City of Angels.

The pre-game pomp included lasers, thunder-sticks and in a typical Hollywood turn, none other than The Great One -- Wayne Gretzky -- dropping the puck.

A flop was a possibility and when L.A. ran into penalty trouble late in the first period it became a threat.

But the Kings killed off a full minute of 5-on-3 and began to nudge the Devils right out of this championship picture.

"Penalty killing was the difference. A 5-on-3 and then three more penalties. That's the game right there," said Kings coach Darryl Sutter.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick stopped all 22 shots fired his way to earn his third shutout of the post-season and improve his bid for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

"You need excellent goaltending to win in the playoffs. He's given us that and given us a chance to win every night," said Sutter.

The Kings scored first for the third straight game in the series as Alec Martinez scored on a goal-mouth scramble early in the second period. Devils goalie Martin Brodeur beefed about the goal and he may have had a case, as he originally stopped a Dwight King shot and then appeared to have the puck trapped under his pads.

Play was allowed to continue, however, and Kings took several swipes to get the puck loose and Martinez was able to smack it into the cage.

"That's a momentum-changing play at the time so I hope he's (referee Dan O'Halloran) right," said Devils coach Pete DeBoer. "It's an awful big call if you're wrong. In my opinion, as soon as you lose sight of the puck the whistle should blow. Even if you don't get the whistle to your mouth, your intent is to blow it and if you lose sight it's a dead puck. I'm waiting for an explanation."

The Kings scored again before the second period expired as Anze Kopitar took a hot pass from captain Dustin Brown and one-timed a heater past Brodeur.

New Jersey's hopes of a third-period push quickly faded as the Kings pounded in a pair of power-play goals from Jeff Carter and Justin Williams.

While Gretzky made the Kings relevant and took them to the Cup final in 1993, the current group appear poised to do what even he couldn't -- finish the job and make Los Angeles the home of the hockey champions of the world.

The Devils told anyone that would listen that their play in the first two games of the series was good enough to provide a win and that a pair of overtime losses was more about bad bounces than being outplayed. DeBoer stayed on theme even after this California gold rush.

"I'm not disappointed in my team. We played right to the final buzzer. I don't care what the scoreboard says, we battled right to the buzzer and we'll do the same on Wednesday night," he said.

Kings defenceman Willie Mitchell pointed to Quick for his team's success Monday night and throughout the season.

"He's all-world. He's been doing it all year. We wouldn't be in this position or even in the playoffs without him. He's been terrific for us on a consistent basis. He allowed us to get our game together in front of him. That's what great goalies do," said Mitchell. "That's the ebb and flow of the game, sometimes you're not going to have it for a whole 60. When you have a goalie that can sit there and minimize the damage, it allows the boys to get that feeling going."

Kings veteran Justin Williams predicts his team will be ready to play on Wednesday. Keeping the Devils on the floor is priority No. 1.

"They're going to try and push back. But we don't want to get back on that plane," said Williams. "We can taste that we're close to doing something we've been waiting all our lives for. That should drive us even more."

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 5, 2012 D1