Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers faceoff at Madison Square Garden for Game 4 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series live from New York City. The game can be live streamed for free here. Los Angeles fans can hear all of the action on Fox Sports 570 while New York fans can do the same on 98.7 ESPN.
On day number 56 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Los Angeles looks to complete the sweep and lift its second Stanley Cup in three years while New York tries to stave off elimination and avoid a celebration by the road team on its home ice. The Kings took Game 1 in overtime 3-2, Game 2 in double overtime 5-4 and dominated Game 3 with a 3-0 victory.
Since 1982, eight of the nine Stanley Cup Finals that have seen a team go up 3-0 have ended in a sweep. The last time the Cup was hoisted on MSG ice was in 1994 when the Rangers ousted the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.
The Kings defeated the New Jersey Devils at the Staples Center in Game 6 to hoist their first ever Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2012, but their road to the Cup last time was less bumpy than this year.
The Kings went 16-4 and won the Cup in 20 games in 2012, but played 21 games through the first three rounds of this year's playoffs, going to seven games in each of them. The 3-0 series lead is a change of pace for Los Angeles.
The Kings will try to have an easier time in 2014 than it did in 2012 when it went up 3-0 on the Devils and lost two straight before winning the series in six.
"I think potentially, maybe not everyone but there were some issues that maybe got us sidetracked a little bit," Kings forward Justin Williams said of 2012 per NHL.com. "We have you know, usually one chance, and this is our second chance to do it, to win a Stanley Cup, to be remembered forever."
Williams (eight goals, 16 assists) and Jeff Carter (10 tallies, 14 helpers) are tied for second on the Kings with 24 points apiece. Anze Kopitar has paced the playoffs in points (26) and assists (21) and has added five goals while Marian Gaborik leads this postseason in goals (13) and has added eight helpers for 21 points.
New York's first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 20 years has been mostly forgettable despite the games being close on the scoreboard, but the team will hope to claw its way back into the series as the players don't know if they'll ever have another chance to play for the Cup.
"We worked really hard and long to get here," said Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who said it was disappointing to be in this situation, according to NHL.com. "Again, we're playing a really good team. They take advantage of mistakes. They play extremely well defensively, I think. We still believe that we can do it. We have to start by just focusing on the first period [tonight]."
Lundqvist is 12-10 this postseason while ranking second in the playoffs with a 2.20 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.
He'll be opposed by Jonathan Quick, who has a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy under his belt already and blanked the Blueshirts in Game 3. Quick is 15-9 with a 2.69 GAA and a .910 save percentage in the crease for the Kings in these playoffs.
New York has been hot-and-cold offensively this postseason, and it's defenseman Ryan McDonagh who leads the Blueshirts in points with 16 off of four goals and 12 assists. Martin St. Louis is tied for first on the team with Carl Hagelin (7-4--11) with seven markers and has added seven helpers for 14 points. Derek Stepan also has 14 points by lighting the lamp five times and adding nine assists.
The Kings hope to hoist the Stanley Cup while the Rangers try to avoid watching another team celebrate with the greatest trophy in sports on their ice when the puck drops at Madison Square Garden tonight in New York City as part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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