NEWARK, NJ — Even though they may not have been on the ice for Anze
Kopitar's breakaway game-winner in overtime, credit an assist to the
line of Brad Richardson, Colin Fraser and Jordan Nolan.
In a
Stanley Cup Final competed between teams oozing with depth
contributions, it was the Los Angeles Kings' energy line that provided
the bigger boost in their 2-1 thriller over the New Jersey Devils on
Wednesday night.
Between the unsung playoff performances of New
Jersey's Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta and Los Angeles' Dwight King and
Dustin Penner — the quartet combined for 40 regular-season points
before amassing 28 points in the playoffs — much had been made about the
teams’ confidence while rolling all four lines in key situations.
In
a first period that didn't offer many scoring chances, an opportunistic
Fraser snapped in a one-timer off a Nolan feed from behind the net,
allowing the Kings to play with the lead in their first appearance in
the Cup Final since 1993.
"They had one of the best games in the
playoffs so far," Kopitar said. "They've had some really good ones
before, and tonight they capped it off with a nice goal. It definitely
got us going in the first period. It seems like we came out a little
slower than we wanted to, and the way they came out and established the
forecheck and had some cycles in their zone gave us a huge boost."
Nolan
— in a team-low 11:26 of ice time – tied for second on the team with
four hits, one of which was a pulverizing open-ice hit on Devils
defenseman Marek Zidlicky in the third period that surprisingly didn't
leave a crater in the ice.
"He just made a play, and I think he
was looking the other way, and I caught his shoulder and put him back a
bit," Nolan said before expanding on the role his line played in a
physical battle.
"We know we're important to the team when we're
going. When we're not going, we're not going to see too much ice. Darryl
(Sutter) is a tough coach. If you're not going, he's not going to put
you out there. We had a few rushes to start there, and we knew we wanted
to pick it up and we got a big goal."
In a matchup between teams
renowned for their suffocating forecheck, it was L.A.'s pressure that
created the most havoc and led to the opening goal. Making use of their
size advantage — New Jersey dressed only two defensemen larger than 6-1 —
it was the 6-3 Nolan who made a hit on the 5-11 Andy Greene behind the
net before feeding Fraser in the slot to start the scoring.
"It's
not my No. 1 thing," Fraser said about scoring, "but I always try to
give it to the boys about how I'm going to score one tonight, and I was
lucky."
In nearly breaking out a rink board to describe his
positioning and role in the offensive zone, Fraser gave credit to
Richardson and Nolan for their effective plumbing.
"They seem to
get on pucks first every time. I just try to stay up — three. I take
care of the defense. They take care of the hard work in the corners," he
said.
That makes it nine consecutive road wins in the playoffs,
and 11 straight if last year's first round wins in Games 2 and 5 in San
Jose are included. Or, one straight, according to Sutter.
"We won one on the road now. Season started today," he said.
Sutter also referenced both teams' confidence in getting all 20 skaters involved as a key in the victory.
"The
way teams play, there's such tight quarters out there. Ability to stay
with it, play four lines, six defensemen, I think both teams would say
that" is a key, he said.
New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer expects a
stronger all-around effort from a team that has averaged 2.74 goals in
the postseason but banked on only one deflection past Jonathan Quick.
Anton Volchenkov's equalizer late in the second period pinballed off
Slava Voynov before bouncing past Quick into the net.
"Our group
has done a pretty good job of self-analyzing, you know, looking at
the game and realizing, both individually and collectively, where
we have to get better," DeBoer said.
"We have two days to do that. We'll be better on Saturday night."
