NHL Playoffs 2012: Los Angeles Kings Dominant on the Road During the Playoffs

In history, kings had to be good on the road. When they would take their nation to battle, they had to be prepared no matter where they were.

The Los Angeles Kings resemble real life ancient kings in this very way.

In the toughest of times, they have excelled to great extents in Vancouver, St. Louis and now Phoenix. So far, they're 6-0 away from the Staples Center in the playoffs, and this road dominance may propel them to a Stanley Cup title.

The Kings have outscored opponents 22-to-10 on the road, which is absolutely remarkable considering they couldn't get any scoring going for themselves throughout the regular season. As mentioned, they've also only played in six games.

This means they're allowing just 1.7 goals per game. This is a testament to Jonathan Quick's unbelievable play in net. He's not fazed by anything right now, and if the Kings win the Stanley Cup, he's going to be the front-runner for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

As a No. 8 seed, the Kings have had to be stellar on the road. They don't have home-ice advantage in any series, and what's most impressive about their run is how easily they've dominated other teams. 

And it's not always because of Quick.

In the first game of the playoffs at Vancouver, the Kings peppered Roberto Luongo with 39 shots in their 4-2 victory. In the closing game of that series, they had 37 shots. Then, in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at Phoenix, they put up a whopping 48 shots.

All of this was on the road. 

And let's face it, road travel is not easy for the Los Angeles Kings. Vancouver is 1,276 miles away from the Southland, and St. Louis is another 1,827 miles. That's a difficult travel schedule compared to a team like the New York Rangers, which has played teams in the same time zone throughout the entire postseason. 

The travel hasn't done anything to the Kings, though. They seem to come together, and their offense clicks at a different level when they're away from their friendly confines. 

Obviously, as we all know, it's not just their offense. Their defense, penalty killing and Quick all come alive.

In fact, the most glaring stat during the Kings' run is that they've only allowed one power-play goal on the road in the whole playoffs. 

Just one.

That kind of shows why they've been able to be so successful. They play a structured system and have been doing it all season long. 

Now that their offense has finally started clicking after being dormant throughout the season, the Kings look more like an unstoppable No. 1 seed rather than a team that barely made the playoffs.