LOS ANGELES — Dustin Brown scored two goals, Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, and the eighth-seeded Kings finished an improbable four-game sweep of the Blues with a 3-1 victory yesterday, advancing to the conference finals for just the second time in club history.
Rookie Jordan Nolan scored an early goal for the Kings, the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate their conference’s top two seeds in the same postseason.
After steamrolling top-seeded Vancouver and second-seeded St. Louis with eight wins in nine games, the Kings will face the winner of Phoenix’s series with Nashville in the Western Conference finals.
“It’s a special group, and we knew that all along this season,” said Anze Kopitar, who had assists on both of Brown’s goals and tackled the Kings captain after his empty-netter.
“Maybe we didn’t break out when we would have liked to, but I think we’ve peaked at the right time, and that’s the most important thing.”
The Kings made their only previous trip to the conference finals in 1993, when Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille propelled Los Angeles past Toronto and into their only Stanley Cup finals, where they lost to Montreal. The Kings won just one playoff series in the ensuing 17 seasons before routing the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Canucks in five first-round games last month.
“I can only imagine how happy Kings fans are right now,” said Brown, who has never played for another organization. “They’ve been through a rough stretch, and to win on home ice, that’s huge for everyone in this room.