GONE WEST: Mike Richards is one of a host of Kings who have arrived by way of the Flyers. L.A. faces the Devils in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday at Prudential Center. (
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With all the former Flyers infesting the Kings, Los Angeles could be mistaken for Orange County.
There’s general manager Dean Lombardi, a former Flyers scout. There’s assistant GM Ron Hextall, the former Flyers goaltender. John Stevens, an assistant coach with the Kings, was Flyers coach before incumbent Peter Laviolette.
Coach Darryl Sutter is the un-orange exception, but there must not have been an ex-Flyer free when the Kings fired Terry Murray, who was yet another refugee from Philadelphia.
The epidemic worsens on the ice. Simon Gagne is getting close to returning from his annual concussion, and Justin Williams also is on hand.
Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the Odd Couple so dramatically exiled by Flyers GM Paul Holmgren, are reunited, significant reasons the 95-point Kings will open the Stanley Cup finals against the Devils on Wednesday at Prudential Center.
Los Angeles is led by goalie Jonathan Quick, forwards Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar and defenseman Drew Doughty, but there is an unmistakable Flyers backbone to this franchise.
The Kings are undefeated in eight road playoff games and have outscored foes 30-13 while the Devils’ 6-2 home record is the best in this postseason.
“I don’t think they’ve played a team like us yet,” the Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk said after he reached the Finals for the first time in his career. Heck, he never even had won a series before this spring.
The Devils reached their fifth Finals in pursuit of their fourth Stanley Cup by eliminating the Rangers on Adam Henrique’s 3-2 overtime winner in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday in Newark. Martin Brodeur dispatched his 1994 ghost from Mark Messier’s guarantee, beating NHL MVP candidate Henrik Lundqvist as well.
That triumph sent the Devils to their first Finals since their last Cup in 2003. Only Brodeur and Patrik Elias remain from that squad, with Petr Sykora also returned from the 2000 winners.
“I’m happy, but I want to do a little more,” said Devils forward Dainius Zubrus, 33, who last reached the Finals as the youngest-ever Flyer at 19 — but we won’t hold it against him — in 1997. “It’s a long time to wait for another chance. They don’t come around often.”
“This is close, but it’s not enough,” Zubrus said.
For the first time in these playoffs, the Devils open at home, their .750 home percentage better than that of the No. 2 Kings, .667.
“Home ice in the finals? It’s better than having to travel out West [to open],” playoff hero Ryan Carter said. “We get a chance to settle down here, scout here, and get into the series right off the bat.
“They’re 8-0 on the road, but you know what? They haven’t played a road game in our building.”
The Kings, the eighth seed in the West, knocked off the Western regular season champion Canucks, who were 16 points better, in five games. Then they swept the second-seeded Blues, 14 points better, by a 15-6 margin. The third-seeded Coyotes were only two points better than the Kings, who needed five to end that miracle of the desert.
The Devils have their own tendency. They’ve trallied in each of their three series but came on strong to close out the Panthers in seven, Flyers in five and Rangers in six. They won their final two, both in overtime, against Florida, won the final four against the Flyers and took the last three against the Rangers.
By comparison, the Kings — who never have won a Cup since entering the NHL in 1967 — are 12-2 in the playoffs by a combined 41-22 score. The Devils and their three previous Cups are 12-6, 51-42. The Finals may be anticlimatic after beating the Rangers and Lundqvist and history, but if they fall behind in the series the first time, as they always have, the Devils will remember that winning Cups is their team’s only business. It surely isn’t making money.