NHL Playoff TV Schedule 2012: Kings' Upswing Spells Doom for Coyotes in Game 3

The Phoenix Coyotes will go into Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the resurgent Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. EDT in a 2-0 hole, though the series already feels like it's over.

Not that the 'Yotes have played poorly in their own right.

Next to the Kings, though, Phoenix might as well be the Mighty Ducks.

No, not even the ones who play in Anaheim without the "Mighty" attached. More like the ones upon which Gordon Bombay stumbled once upon a time, before they were any good.

LA, on the other hand, seems only to get better and better with each passing game. The Kings are 10-1 so far in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, their lone loss coming in Game 4 of their opening series against the Vancouver Canucks, winners of the Presidents' Trophy.

Since then, the Kings have ripped off seven consecutive victories behind the stout goaltending of Jonathan Quick, an aggressive puck-pursuing blue line and an offense that's suddenly sprung to life, thanks to scrappy contributions from each of Darryl Sutter's lines.

The Kings' current run of success comes as a surprise to just about anyone who followed them through an offensively-anemic regular season.

But rewind the tape back to September and few would bat so much as an eye at the idea of LA playing for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. They came into the campaign as one of a handful of favorites to hoist the most coveted trophy in all of North American professional sports for all the reasons that they're now plowing their way through the playoffs.

However, ask anyone in the Kings' locker room if they've yet peaked, if they're hitting on all cylinders, and they'll likely tell you that they can still get better, that they haven't played their best hockey.

Which should scare the living daylights out of the 'Yotes and whoever survives the scrum in the Eastern Conference. All LA has managed to do is badger and beat the top three teams in the West to the point where their opponents have been left with little choice but to spark mini-riots on the ice.

During which, by the way, the Kings have managed to keep their heads, for the most part.

It's like nothing the City of Angels has ever seen, not even during the glory days of the early 1990s, when Wayne Gretzky patrolled the ice at the Great Western Forum.

Another loss for the 'Yotes in Game 3 would just about signal the end for Phoenix, though the best is yet to come for the Kings.

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