Kings vs Rangers

LOS ANGELES -- The picture of the New York Rangers' devastation Saturday night sat in the first stall to the right of the entrance into the visitor's dressing room at Staples Center.

There sat goalie Henrik Lundqvist, his head buried underneath his hands, looking inconsolable as the media walked into the room looking for answers as to how and why the Rangers coughed up another two-goal lead in the Stanley Cup Final only to lose in overtime again, this time 5-4 in double overtime to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2.

Lundqvist, his equipment off at this point, had to gather himself and his thoughts before opening himself up to the interrogators in the room. It's impossible to imagine how difficult this was for him, especially because he was as frustrated as he was devastated at how it unfolded.

One of the goals scored, Lundqvist said, should not have been a goal. It angered him deeply.

"I'm extremely disappointed on that call, or non-call," Lundqvist said. "They got to be consistent with that rule."

LOS ANGELES -- It will be one year ago Sunday since the Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in the 2013 Western Conference Final.

For most of the Kings, that was the low point of what has been an incredible three-year run. For Willie Mitchell, it was something different. It was the end of a lost season, one in which Mitchell did not play a single game because of two knee surgeries.

"Yeah, it is tough. Personally, I just disconnected from it," Mitchell said. "I didn't even watch a lot of the playoff games because it is like sticking a knife in you.

"We've all played hockey since we were kids and dreamed of playing in the Stanley Cup Final and winning the Stanley Cup. We have an awesome team around here. When you're not able to do that and you want to do that, it is really out of your control."

LOS ANGELES -- Whenever Dustin Brown is asked to reflect on his regular season, he’s owned up to it and admitted that it wasn’t up to his standards, at least up until the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

He was invisible on a lot of nights and hardly the wrecking-ball factor that he was during the 2012 Stanley Cup run. But, like the Los Angeles Kings, Brown is making up for it when it counts the most.

Brown capped the second-longest game in franchise history when he deflected defenseman Willie Mitchell’s shot from the left point into the net at 10:26 of second overtime to give Los Angeles a 5-4 win against the New York Rangers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday at Staples Center.

The Kings will take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series into Game 3 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS) thanks to Brown’s first career overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Los Angeles Kings continue to make history as they pile up comeback wins in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Kings became the first team in playoff history to win three straight games in which they trailed by more than one goal when they rallied from deficits of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 in double overtime Saturday in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Staples Center.

Los Angeles also overcame an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in overtime to win Game 7 of the Western Conference Final, then spotted the Rangers a two-goal lead in Game 1 of the final but rallied for a 3-2 overtime victory. Los Angeles has not held a lead in the past 229 minutes and 15 seconds, covering a span of four games, since the Blackhawks tied Game 6 at 11:34 of the third period.

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Final between the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings, NHL.com has enlisted the help of former NHL coach Perry Pearn to break down the action. Pearn will be checking in throughout the series.

Pearn has spent the past 18 seasons as an assistant coach in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and a second tenure with the Jets in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Kings did not play up to the standard they've set during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs for much of Game 1 of the Final against the New York Rangers, but they did take a 1-0 series lead.

After a sloppy first period and a so-so second, the Kings were much stronger in the third before winning 3-2 in overtime. Game 2 is Saturday at Staples Center (7 p.m.; NBC, CBC, RDS), and there will be a couple of things Los Angeles will be trying to clean up.

LOS ANGELES -- The Rick Nash story in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs has reached the point where expectations for the New York Rangers forward have changed.

Once considered an elite goal-scorer and the player who had to ignite the Rangers' offense, Nash is being held to a different standard in the playoffs, at least based on public comments made by his teammates and coach Alain Vigneault.

Now Nash is supposed to be an all-around, 200-foot player who doesn't need to score to be effective.

It's not clear if this change is a good thing or a bad thing for the Rangers, who trail 1-0 heading into Game 2 of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS).

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- On April 26, defenseman Jeff Schultz was playing at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, in front of a little less than 8,000 people in the American Hockey League's Calder Cup Playoffs.

A little more than a week later, he played nearly 20 minutes for the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Anaheim Ducks. He continued to play for six more games with the eventual champions of the West.

There have been plenty of words written and said extolling the virtues of Kings rookie forwards Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli and how their line with Jeff Carter has helped Los Angeles evolve into a potential Stanley Cup champion.

But this long, incredible run might not have been possible without the team's depth on defense. The Kings lost their two most experienced defensemen, Willie Mitchell and Robyn Regehr, to injury, but the rest of the corps behind superstar Drew Doughty helped Los Angeles survive.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Kings forwards are not spending much time dissecting the unorthodox technique of New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, whose deep-in-the-crease style is the antithesis of their Jonathan Quick.

What was confirmed after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is that Lundqvist is as advertised. This is the first time the Kings have faced a truly elite goalie in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the inconsistency of Antti Niemi of the San Jose Sharks, the up-and-down tandem of Jonas Hiller and John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, and the sometimes-struggling Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks.

"All I know is, he's a good goalie," Kings forward Justin Williams said of Lundqvist. "He's tough to beat, and he looks big in there. He can be intimidating because there's not much room to shoot at. He's going to make most of the saves that he sees. Shots, screens, tips, rebounds is kind of the model around here for it."

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- For three years now the Los Angeles Kings have been the best example of why analytics matter in the NHL.

Los Angeles was a No. 8 seed in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but people who pored over "advanced statistics" were more than willing to call the Kings a contender when few others would.

As the use of analytics has continued to permeate the sport, more pundits have recognized why the Kings were considered a top candidate to win the 2014 Stanley Cup after finishing tied for ninth in the League in points.

The Kings also are potential champions because of other, less-quantifiable things. How teammates get along with each other, how players are able or willing to accept direction from the coaching staff, why certain players or teams are able to excel in adverse times -- these are qualities people outside NHL dressing rooms love to talk about but cannot enumerate.

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Final between the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers, NHL.com has enlisted the help of former NHL coach Craig Ramsay to break down the action. Ramsay will be checking in throughout the series.

Ramsay played in more than 1,000 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres before going on to coach the Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Atlanta Thrashers. In the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he led the Flyers to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Final. Ramsay most recently was an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers.

Sitting with his pen and notepad in hand as he watched Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final from his couch Wednesday, Craig Ramsay, longtime hockey player and coach, could not figure out how or why the New York Rangers played so differently in the third period than they did in the first two.

"It absolutely boggled my mind," Ramsay told NHL.com.