The New Jersey Devils looked impressive in toppling Vezina Trophy finalist Henrik Lundqvist in the eastern conference final, but not enough to make them the favorite against the Los Angeles Kings.

Despite winning three in a row against the New York Rangers, oddsmakers are expecting their streak to stop in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals Wednesday night. The Devils are 1 1/2 goal underdogs, according to Bovada’s Kings vs. Devils Betting Lines.

But New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuck doesn’t see much of a difference. The NHL’s leading point scorer through the postseason already spoiled a potential Los Angeles-New York final, and told ESPN he’ll be more than happy to play spoiler again.

“I don’t really care,” Kovalchuck said. “We’re here to win and I think we deserve to be here, and so does L.A. I think it will be a great final. It’s the best two teams in the league facing each other. It’ll be exciting.”

The Kings have been the league’s best story so far, torching the Western Conference’s top 3 seeds with a 12-2 record. If they sweep the Final, they can tie the 1988 Edmonton Oilers for best winning percentage in a single postseason (.888).

But it’s hard to discount the body of work New Jersey has done. As the east’s six-seed, the Devils crusied past the Philadelphia Flyers in five games, then beat the top-seeded Rangers on their home turf. They were able to rally from early losses in both of those series, but it could be a different story against Los Angeles, which has found it easy to slam the door once it gets an early lead.

New Jersey head coach Peter DeBoer would prefer put the pressure on the opponents early this time.

“For sure we do,” DeBoer told ESPN. “That’s been the case really from the second round on. The Florida series was really everything we could handle, and we were favored. But after that, against Philly, the Rangers and L.A., there’s not a whole lot of people picking us. Absolutely we have to come out of the gate and be ready to create some doubt. They’re on a tremendous roll here. They’ve made some very good teams look real average.”

Looking long term, Los Angeles is a -170 favorite to win the entire series. Part of the reason is its prowess on the road. The western champs are 7-0 in away games this postseason, losing their only two games at the Staples Center.