LOS ANGELES – It was speed vs. grit as the puck in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center. The speed of the Rangers was there early on, but ultimately the grit of the Kings prevailed.
One of the Rangers biggest assets heading into the series was their speed, and they came out flying in the first period. Rangers forward Benoit Puliot got the scoring started at the 13:21 mark after poking the puck free and firing a shot past Jonathan Quick on the ensuing breakaway to give the visitors the early 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Brian Boyle found Carl Hagelin who outskated Kings defenseman Slava Voynov. Hagelin’s backhand shot was saved by Quick, but the puck bounced off Voynov’s skate and in to put the Rangers ahead 2-0. The Kings got on the board 2 ½ minutes later when Jeff Carter found Tyler Clifford who buried a shot over Henrik Lundqvist’s shoulder to make it a 2-1 game heading into the first intermission.
After committing a costly turnover in the first period, which led to the opening goal, Kings defenseman Drew Doughty more than made up for it at 6:36 of the second period. After making a highlight-reel, between the legs, curl and drag move to elude a Rangers defender, Doughty beat Lundqvist to tie the game at two.
Turnovers and penalties were a common theme in the third period for the Rangers, who committed three penalties that period.
Meanwhile, the Kings did all they could to take advantage of the Rangers’ sloppiness with the puck, but Lundqvist was up to the challenge. Despite facing 20 shots in the third period, Lundqvist stopped all 20 of them. On the other side of the ice, Quick faced just three shots from the Rangers and stopped all three of them.
After 60 minutes of regulation, the score was still tied at two and the game went into overtime.
4:36 into the extra session, the Kings were on a 3-on-2 rush until Mike Richards lost control of the puck. However, on the ensuing play, Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi misplayed the puck, which found its way to the stick of Mike Richards. Richards then found an open Justin Williams who fired home the overtime winner to give the Kings the 3-2 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at 7 (on NBC) at the Staples Center for Game 2. The Kings will look to improve on their play in Game 1 and take a 2-0 series lead while the Rangers will look to even up the series at 1 before the series shifts back East to Madison Square Garden for Game 3.
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