June 2, 2012, Los Angeles Kings-New Jersey Devils notebook for HockeyPrimeTime.com

Stanley cup Final Notebook: Kings, Devils sticking to the plan

Headlines
Written by Denis Gorman
Saturday, June 02, 2012 01:57
One might expect the Kings and the Devils to make some changes to their gameplans after a fairly sloppy Game 1. Both teams, however, seem content to stay the course for the time being and roll with what got them to the Finals in the first place. NEWARK, N.J. — The theme of the myriad questions posed to Darryl Sutter in the days following the Game 1 win has been why his Los Angeles Kings have been the best team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Kings are 13-2 in the playoffs following a regular season in which they qualified for the playoffs as the Western Conference's No. 8 seed with a 40-27-15 record. So what’s the secret? It’s simple. The Kings are employing a minimalist approach to the playoffs. “It is the next game and you should focus on that because the score was 2-1 and it could have been 2-1 for [the New Jersey Devils],” Sutter said. “I think both teams have said they had some sluggish players. So I think both teams are probably thinking the very same way. I don’t think there’s much of a gap or difference. “We’re not doing anything different. We’re not.” *****   The Devils’ all-is-good approach throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs is not kabuki. Rather, they have the collective confidence and looseness of a team that has won playoff series and 12 of 19 playoff games despite having lost Game 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. “We know we’ve been here before,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said during his media availability. "I think after looking at the tape, we think we know what we have to fix. I think there’s a comfort level that we can get that done. “We went through the tape, the three or four areas we need to fix. We worked on some of that in practice. Guys are excited to play.” *****   One of the most memorable moments in Stanley Cup Final history was then-Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers requesting a stick measurement against then-Los Angeles Kings defenseman Marty McSorley late in the third period of Game 2 of the 1993 series. McSorley was determined to have played with an illegal stick and Eric Desjardins scored on the ensuing power play to tie the game 2-2. Desjardins scored the third of his three goals in the game early in overtime to give the Canadiens a 3-2 win to tie the series at 1-1. The Canadiens would go on to win that series in five games. Don’t expect DeBoer to elect to follow Demers’ path. The Devils coach tried it once and it didn’t exactly work out for him. “I actually do remember [calling for an illegal stick]. Mike Richards would remember it [too, as] he was my captain in Kitchener,” DeBoer said, laughing at the memory. “We had Corey Perry — who plays in Anaheim — (and) we had all been together with the (Canadian) World Junior team (in 2005). I had found, probably a little unethically by coaching him, that his stick was illegal. We played (the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights) in the playoffs. I had Richie call Corey for an illegal stick. We actually got it (but) didn’t score in the five-on-three (power play). I think London scored shorthanded and we lost the series. It backfired. “They changed the rule to make the bigger curves more legal since then. You have to have a boomerang basically in order to be called for that. So it’s not even an option.” *****   The Devils are the Rodney Dangerfield of the New York City major collegiate and professional sports teams even on the NHL’s pre-eminent stage. A local television station in New York aired a graphic during its 11 o’clock newscast that had the New York Islanders competing against the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final. The Islanders have not reached the Stanley Cup Final since 1983-84, where they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in five games. The Islanders have reached the playoffs only 11 times in the subsequent 27 seasons, including five straight last place finishes in the Atlantic Division. *****   The New York Rangers confirmed a report from Slovakian newspaper SME — translated by Yahoo! Sports — that right wing Marian Gaborik will need surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. You can follow us on Twitter @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman. Photos by Getty Images
	Last Updated on Saturday, June 02, 2012 02:11

http://www.hockeyprimetime.com/news/headlines/stanley-cup-final-notebook-kings-devils-sticking-to-the-plan