No one has a better understanding of what it takes to come back from a 3-0 deficit than the Kings.
It was only a few weeks ago the Kings found themselves down 3-0 against the favored Sharks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, only to win the next four games to advance to the second round and kick off their run to the precipice of lifting the Stanley Cup for a second time in three years with one more win over the Blueshirts.
“You don’t want to give a team any life,” Justin Williams said. “You want to keep stepping on that throat and not give them anything, because you give them a little something and they’ll take a little more.”
By completing their first round comeback, the Kings became the fourth team — joining the 1942 Maple Leafs, 1975 Islanders and 2010 Flyers — to come back from a 3-0 deficit in NHL playoff history. Now the Kings sport the only players to do so more than once in ex-Flyer forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, who know the fourth win in the series is always the hardest to get.
“We realize that,” Carter said. “We realize it’s never over until you win four games. It’s an old cliché, but the fourth game is always the toughest one to get. We know we’re going to get their best effort [Wednesday] night and we’ll have to be ready.”
Not only are the Kings in position to win a second Stanley Cup in three years, but they are in an identical situation to the one they were in two years ago, when they won the first three games against the Devils before losing two in a row and finally clinching the title in Game 6.
This time they hope to take the Rangers out before giving them a chance to gain any life.
“No let-up,” Jarrett Stoll said. “Be as desperate as before Game 3. We knew we needed to be a desperate team, winning a tough road game, tough building, just try to prepare to win a game.
“That’s it. No other thoughts beyond that. That’s it.”
Rangers forward Dan Carcillo is eligible to play in Game 4, having completed his six-game suspension for physical abuse of an official in Game 3 of the East finals against the Canadiens.
“It feels good to be back in the room around the guys,” Carcillo said. “As far as the lineup goes, I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
Carcillo was part of the 2010 Flyers team that came back from a 3-0 series deficit in the conference finals against the Bruins, and knows the mentality the Rangers need.
“We all know we have a big task in front of us — we have to keep it simple, and we have to win [Wednesday] and go from there and not worry about anything else,” Carcillo said. “Can’t look too far ahead, can’t get discouraged.”
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was the only regular to practice on Tuesday. His plan was then not to partake in the optional morning skate on Wednesday.
“I felt like today was better to go out there and get a good skate,” Lundqvist said. “Then maybe rest [Wednesday] morning. I’ve done that a lot in the past just to save energy, I guess.”
— Additional reporting by Brett Cyrgalis