I forgot to mention a couple of defenseman who have also made a difference in that they are coming of age: Martinez and Voynov. While Voynov has struggled a bit in the playoffs (I attribute it to rookie jitters), he had a very good rookie season…he is an active defenseman who finds the seam in the center of the ice for forward deflections on the net; I believe his teammates are just getting used to the idea that those are not shots, but passes for their benefit.

Martinez has really played effectively for a young defenseman as well. When you put all the pieces of the puzzle together, you get what you are seeing now…the big question at this point in time is: Can they all keep this up for another two-plus series?

Talk about an understatement or what ? … so our LA Kings are apparently “competing” during these playoffs ! Not sure if Dadoun says that “tongue in cheek” or if he’s been intentionally provocative ? At any rate, you can call it what you like … competing, shock & awe, blitzkrieg or squashing ants. The bottom line is that the Kings are laying waste to “anything and everything” which lay in their path and there isn’t anything our detractors can do about it !

Yet, as the excellent writer “Ron” notes above, this shouldn’t be coming as such a surprise to you people. Our team is laden with talent at every position and we have the best coach in the business, bar none. You could clearly see earlier in the season that this was coming and that it was just a matter of time. I also agree with Ron that Jeff Carter was the one final ingredient, whose addition immediately turned us into the dynamo which we are today !

GO KINGS GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an absolutely untrue statement, because you haven’t accounted for what happened during the last quarter of the season. You haven’t done your homework on the Kings, and that is the reason why some hockey “experts” are still having a hard time grasping why they are currently going through the playoffs like a hot knife through soft butter.

Here is their record during the last 21 games of the regular season (since Carter joined the team): 13-5-3. During one stretch in March, they won six straight games, beating the likes of Chicago, Detroit, Anaheim, Nashville, San Jose, and St. Louis. They averaged 3.1 goals per game in their last 21 games of the season, and are now averaging 3.0 goals per game in the playoffs.

How did all this happen? You mention the obvious, of course, the stars of the team. But what you failed to grasp was that when Carter joined the team, it solidified all four lines by shifting players where they actually belonged (Stoll and Penner on the third line, for example). As a result, the third line really picked up their play, and made a huge impact, and the fourth line, for which Sutter likes to use extensively to stabilize puck possession and offensive zone time, gets more time on the ice than you will see from other teams.

As an added bonus, players like Penner, Stoll, Lewis, and Richardson are finally playing to their potential and have really picked up their games as well. Add two big players from Manchester in King and Nolan who have also contributed and thus the freight train.

- Sens Fan