NHL Playoff Schedule 2012: Kings Ready to Crush Canucks After Dominating Game 1

Coming into the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, there was a small-but-distinct possibility that the Los Angeles Kings would become just the ninth No. 8 seed in NHL history to upend a No. 1 seed in the postseason.

And not just because the Vancouver Canucks secured the strangely dubious honor of hoisting the Presidents' Trophy for the second season in a row.

The absence of the concussed Daniel Sedin for the Canucks, combined with the superb goaltending of All-Star Jonathan Quick, lent credence to a sneaking suspicion that the Kings might just advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

Those suspicions were confirmed in rather resounding fashion on Wednesday night, when the Kings went into Rogers Arena and emerged with a surprisingly strong 4-2 win over the heavily-favored Canucks in Game 1 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series.

Strong enough, anyway, to inspire this sort of anti-Canucks swagger after the game:

"

To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you're welcome.

— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 12, 2012"

And for good reason. Alex Burrows' early goal for Vancouver aside, LA looked like the better team by a mile. The offensively inept Kings out-shot the supposedly unstoppable Canucks, 39-26, shaking off a poor close to the regular season with their most impressive end-to-end performance in a month.  

Most encouraging of all for the Kings, though, was the play of Mike Richards. The star center slumped his way through his first season in LA after arriving in a trade that sent Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a 2012 draft pick back to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Though, by the looks of things in Vancouver, Richards appears to have put those struggles behind him. Richards accounted for a goal and two assists in Game 1, including a helper on what turned out to be the game-winning goal by the much-maligned Dustin Penner.

The Kings will need Richards to keep playing this way—the way they expected him to all year when they acquired him—if they're going to turn a one-game surprise into a full-blown upset.

But they're off to a flying start, forcefully snatching home-ice advantage from the weakened grasp of the Canucks. If the Kings continue to play this way, they'll etch themselves into the history books before long, all while staying alive in pursuit of the franchise's first Stanley Cup title.

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