While the Eastern Conference field is beating itself up, still with all four teams alive in the semifinals, the Western Conference wrapped up pretty nicely. The Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes seemed like the best teams all postseason long, and wasted little time dispatching their first two opponents in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now, they will decide which underdog will complete its miraculous run and reach the Stanley Cup championship.
The Kings, who have been favored for about a week now to win the Cup by Bovada’s Stanley Cup Futures, is the front runner to win the series, which will start when the Eastern semis wrap-up. They dispatched the conference’s top-two seeds in just nine games, and although Coyotes vs. Kings Betting Lines haven’t officially been rolled out, it’s clear oddsmakers like Los Angeles.
Phoenix has 10/3 odds to win the Cup, tied for second-best wiht the New York Rangers.
What’s not to love about the Kings? It was total mayhem at the start of the playoffs with the Pittsburgh Penguins starting as favorites to win the Cup, then being replaced briefly by the Rangers and St. Louis Blues. Oddsmakers had the tedious task of waiting for a team to separate itself from the pack, and finally took a flier on Los Angeles and never looked back.
The Kings’ run has been nothing short of spectacular, narrowly securing the eighth-seed in the playoffs to start with and blowing out Presidents’ Cup winners Vancouver in five games. For a second we thought St. Louis’ physicality would finally be too much, but Los Angeles actually seemed to be far more physical en route to a sweep.
Team captain Dustin Brown led the way with 39 hits in the first two rounds, to go along with his 11 points. He, like the rest of the team, is enjoying the long rest before the finals.
“You get to this point in the year and physically you can find a way to get yourself going, but mentally you’re in a high-stress, high-pressure situation day in and day out,” he told the LA Times.
“Just to have the day to not really think about hockey or about the type of pressure that comes from being in the playoffs, it’s nice just to get away from the game for a day or two and let your mind reset.”
And now, the only team remaining is Phoenix, which dispatched Nashville in five games, and are in the middle of their own little miracle. After winning their first division ever, the Coyotes have now reached the conference finals for the first time in their 33-year history.
“We’ve been pretty business-like the whole time, and we’re excited for this one,” captain Shane Doan told the AZ Central. “It means a lot to our group to keep going, but it’s only half way, and we’ve got to find a way to win four more games.”