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5 Reasons The LA Kings Are So Good

Coaching:

Darryl Sutter fits this team. He’s getting contributions from everyone, and no one is playing above their talent level and getting exposed. On the road or at home he’s got his team and by extension the opponent dancing to his tune.

One Two Punch

The best pair of top centers still playing belongs to Orange County’s finest. Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar are both responsible with the puck, highly skilled, hungry and playing very near or at the peak of their ability.

Depth

Only one member of this squad to play in nine or more games has failed to pick up at least one point. That’s 17 different skaters who have all contributed at least an assist. Of the twenty skaters to play this post season, none are worse than a minus one.

Buy In

This team has the sort of total buy in that you see from the very strongest teams. When the BlackHawks beat the Flyers two championships ago, the level of commitment was the deciding factor. The BlackHawks knew a lot of their team was going to playing elsewhere the next season, and wanted to win together. There is a bit of that feeling here. While they certainly don’t have the cap issues Chicago had, they also haven’t made it that deep into the playoffs in a long time and it’s likely a large shakeup was coming without an immediate late step forward.

Balance

While Brown and Kopitar are leading the charge, as is to be expected in the goal scoring department they are two of eight players with more than one goal this post season. Better, they are getting points even from the finally healthy Carter, and even Dustin Penner. All six defensemen are playing fifteen or more minutes a night leaving a team that hasn’t played a great deal of hockey very well rested.

PuckSage needs hockey like a junky looking for his next fix, you should fear for him in the off season. But watching him melt into a pile of goo and post unusually inane things to Twitter @PuckSage and other places online might be highly entertaining for some. See if you’re one of them.