Top 5 Road Teams in NHL Playoff History: The LA Kings Shake-Up the NHL

The Los Angeles Kings' unlikely playoff run this year has brought up many intriguing questions not only about the team itself, but also about the league as a whole.  Is this a total fluke, the team riding the success of an incredibly hot, young goaltender in Jonathan Quick? Or is this a sign of a maturing NHL, one whose talent spans the nation and brings back the glory days of hockey in the US?

To be honest, I have no idea. However, what I do know is that the playoffs have been incredibly entertaining thus far and as a consequence the NHL’s ratings are once again through the roof. 

With the Kings' two road victories in last year’s first-round series, along with the seven consecutive road wins this year, the Kings' became only the second NHL team in history to win nine consecutive road victories in the playoffs.  This is made all the more incredible by the fact that the first three road wins this year were against the Vancouver Canucks—who were widely considered the best team in hockey.

In order to get more perspective on these strange events and the effect they many have on the game, this article will take a look at the top five NHL road playoff teams in history.

5. 2004 Calgary Flames

The Flames are one of only three teams to win 10 road games during a single playoff year (the 1995 and 2000 New Jersey Devils are the other two).  They rode behind the goal-tending of Miikka Kiprusoff who had five shutouts, a 92.8 save percentage and 1.85 goals against average throughout their run to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Not an all-time great team, as they failed to win the finals and definitely benefited from the lament of an upcoming lockout.

This season marked an incredible playoff run where they defeated the best of the NHL including the Canucks, Red Wings and Sharks on their way to the finals.  

4. 1977-1978 Montreal Canadians

This is one of the all-time great teams regardless of playoff road wins.  1978 not only marked the year they became one of only six teams to win eight consecutive road wins in the playoffs, but also the year in which they won their third straight Stanley Cup.

Ultimately, they would go on to win the following year as well, capping off a run of four consecutive Stanley Cup titles—a feat matched only one other time by the 80-83 Islanders, and topped only once by their own team, the 56-60 Canadians who won five straight.

Eventually the team would end up sending seven of its players to the Hockey Hall of Fame, including the incomparable Guy Lafleur, as well as Ken Dryden, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard.  In addition, they employed the greatest coach in NHL history, Scottie Bowman, who holds the record for most regular-season wins (1244), most playoff wins (223) and most Stanley Cup victories (9).

They are without a doubt one of, if not the, most dominant teams in the history of hockey—it simply did not matter where they played, they always seemed to win.

3. 80-83 New York Islanders

The only other team to win nine consecutive road games in the playoffs, other than the 2012 Kings, was the 82-83 Islanders.  However, their dynasty reaches much further than those two years, as they won four straight Stanley Cups and had six future Hall of Fame players in Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith, Bob Bourne and Clark Gillies.  To top it all off was their Hall of Fame coach Al Arbour, who ranks behind only the great Scottie Bowman in wins and Stanley Cups. They were as dominant a team as they come, at home or on the road, and proved it over a number of seasons.  

2. 86-90 Edmonton Oilers.

This pick is a pretty easy one.  During this era of Oilers hockey, they won back-to-back President’s Trophies as well as Stanley Cups, are one of only six teams to win eight straight road games in the playoffs and on top of this, manufactured a run of eight non-consecutive road wins during the 1990 playoff year that lead to their third Stanley Cup victory in four years.  They had six future Hall of Famers including "The Great One” Wayne Gretzky, as well as the likes of Mark Messier, Jari Kurri (the first Fin to be inducted into the Hall of Fame), Glen Anderson, Grant Fuhr and Paul Coffey.

It’s difficult not to name this team as the number one road team in playoff history as they were totally dominant  thanks to the immense talent on both sides of the puck. However, because of this fact, their road record does not stand out quite as starkly as the next team.

1. 1995-2001 New Jersey Devils

While the Devils are certainly not one of the best teams on this list, their defensive mentality on the road spoke for itself.  They simply dominated during the late 1990's and early 2000’s without the presence of a true offensive superstar like the other teams on this list. Despite this fact they managed to win 10 road wins during a single playoff twice—the 1995 and 2000 seasons.

In addition, they also notched eight road wins during the 2001 playoffs.  With only two current Hall of Famers, defense-men Scott Stevens and goalie Martin Brodeur, they outright controlled the blue lines and eventually led the NHL to change the rules regarding two-line passes, after the 2005 lockout year.

As a lifelong Avalanche fan it pains me to admit that this is clearly the best road team in playoff history. Nonetheless, the stats speak for themselves.  The question is, where do the LA Kings lay in this spectrum of great road teams? 

The one constant on all of these terrific teams is a great goaltender. Martin Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, Grant Fuhr, Billy Smith and Ken Dryden are already in the Hall of Fame, or soon will be.  The question in regards to the Kings is, is Jonathan Quick made from the same Hall-of-Fame-type mold as these great goaltenders, or is he simply catching fire at the right time like a Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Cam Ward? 

On the flip side of this argument is the question of an evolving NHL.  Is Mr. Quick’s impressive playoff year a mere side-note to the success of the young and underrated team? Is this a sample of the newly salary-capped NHL, one where the talent of the league is spread across the country to non-traditional hockey towns like Phoenix, LA, Tampa Bay and Nashville?

While I would love to answer unequivocally yes to this question, only time will tell.  However, it certainly seems as though small market teams in anti-hockey towns are gaining ground and giving the traditional powerhouses a run for their money.