2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs: 3 Reasons the LA Kings Are Contenders for the Cup

Los Angeles sports fans can be somewhat fickle at times.

They love a winner but can be indifferent, at best, if a team is not performing up to expectations.

In LA, they love the Dodgers and absolutely adore the Lakers.

For everyone else, however, respect and admiration is something that must be earned, and then earned again, on a day-to-day and game-to-game basis.

This is, after all, the same market that has been without a pro football team since 1994 because Los Angelinos just did not care that much about the Rams or Raiders.

It is also the same fan base that would barely even mention the Clippers in the same breath as the Lakers until Blake Griffin emerged.

See, I live in Bakersfield, which is about 110 miles north of The City of Angels, so I have witnessed quite a bit of this myself.

One thing I do remember, however, is the Kings run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993. During that magical run, the Kings transformed southern California into Hockeytown West, and hockey has remained very popular in California ever since.

Unfortunately, the Kings have not done much since 1993—until now.

With their 1-0 win over Vancouver in Game 3, the Kings, the No. 8 seed, stand on the brink of a huge upset against the No. 1 seed and defending Western Conference Champion, Vancouver Canucks.

And LA is charged about it. People everywhere are now embracing the Kings again, and the diehards at Staples Center have a lot of new friends all of a sudden.

There is a buzz surrounding the Kings that has not been there since 1993, and many believe that the Kings can go all the way this year.

I can think of three reasons why this optimism is justified.

1. They Are the Team with the Hot Goalie

No goalie in the NHL Playoffs is playing better right now than Jonathan Quick.

His performance in Game 3, when the Canucks outplayed the Kings for long stretches of the game, was nothing short of spectacular.

With no margin for error at all, Quick stopped all 41 shots Vancouver fired at him in Game 3, enabling the Kings to put the Canucks on the brink of elimination with a 1-0 win.

In three games thus far, Quick has turned aside 111 of the 115 shots fired at him. The Canucks have tried everything they can to get the puck past Quick, and nothing, thus far, has worked.

Every year, one tries to identify which team has the hot goalie, the goalie that can tilt the balance of a series and enable a weaker team to upset a stronger one.

Two years ago, Jaroslav Halak carried Montreal to the conference finals.

Last year, Tim Thomas got hot at the right time and the Bruins won their first cup since 1972.

So far, all indications are that Jonathon Quick is the hot goalie in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.

If he is, then there is no reason to think that Quick can't lead the Kings to a place they have not been since 1993—and maybe even beyond.

2. Dustin Brown Is Emerging as a Dominant Force in the Playoffs

The Kings' captain and longest tenured member of the team, Dustin Brown, is having a fantastic series.

With four goals and an assist, including the game winner in Game 3, Brown has emerged as the biggest threat on the ice for Los Angeles.

But it is not just his goal scoring that is having such an impact. Brown is leading by example, demonstrating a will to win that has been contagious amongst his teammates.

His crushing check on the Canucks' captain, Henrik Sedin, in Game 3 is exactly the type of play you want to see from your own captain. It is physical play like that which has kept the Canucks' offense at bay and has enabled the Kings to dictate the tempo and seize control in very surprising fashion.

But, like an infomercial, there is more.

Brown is spearheading superb special teams play from the Kings. Game 2 was a prime example of this as Brown netted two shorthanded goals and then assisted on the Kings' power-play goal.

Dwell on that for a minute—two shorthanded goals in one game, and an assist on a power-play goal to boot.

For the Canucks, it can hardly get more demoralizing than that.

Look for Brown to continue his stellar play in Game 4, and if he is half as successful in the remainder of the playoffs, the Kings could end up going very deep into the postseason.

3. There's No Place Like Home

ESPN Los Angeles ran an article about how the Kings' win in Game 3 will help to establish Los Angeles as a true hockey town.

With all due respect to ESPN, I believe Los Angeles has remained a hockey town since their cup run in 1993, albeit without all the fanfare and accolades they should have acquired.

I know this because I have been to Staples Center to attend Kings games on a few occasions. The atmosphere at a Kings game is truly an experience. These are true hockey fans—make no mistake about it.

Kings fans are very different from Lakers fans or any other type of fan in Los Angeles.

They are actually very much like East Coast hockey fans. They are very passionate, very loud and very involved in the fortunes of their favorite team.

As the ESPN article notes, however, the Kings have not been able to take advantage of their own arena, and the energy of their fans, in the playoffs so far.

The Game 3 win snapped a five-game home playoff losing streak and allowed a great release of energy from the Kings fans who had been waiting years for a reason to celebrate a home playoff win.

If the Kings win on Wednesday night, on home ice, it will be their first playoff series victory in 11 years.

If that happens, look for Kings fans to become even more energized, passionate and supportive of their team.

Home ice usually does not mean a whole lot in the NHL playoffs. But, with the crowd at Staples Center roaring loudly for every hit, check, pass, save and block the Kings execute, the Kings may ride all that energy and emotion a very long way.