Stanley Cup 2012: Why Kings and Devils Series Will Bore Fans

Game 1 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final between the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils was, for the most part, a boring contest. Furthermore, unless the teams change their style or an incident creates some hatred, this series will continue to be unappealing.

The Kings won the game 2-1, which has been a familiar scoreline in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. We have seen a lot of these low-scoring games in the postseason, and it's hard to see either of these teams change much heading into Game 2.

It would be unwise to make significant changes to your game plan when it's got you to the Stanley Cup Final. With that said, expect this series to continue to bore fans. The Stanley Cup Final should be a lot more enjoyable than this.

The game went into overtime and the action did pick up a bit in the third period. However, in a matchup between two good defensive teams that also have strong goaltenders, you cannot expect much offensive fireworks going forward.

With all that's at stake, players are going to be unwilling to take risky chances offensively and risk the other team countering.

Kings head coach Darryl Sutter talked about the lack of offense in Game 1 (via Pro Hockey Talk):

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"Not much going on offensively for either team," Sutter said after his team’s 2-1 overtime victory. "The way the teams play, there’s such tight quarters out there.

"It’s pretty evenly matched teams, and there’s probably going to be more than one overtime game," he said.

"

Anze Kopitar's breakaway in overtime that led to the winning goal was the only breakaway of the game, and it was certainly the most exciting sequence on the night, regardless of the fact it occurred in overtime.

The Devils average 30 shots on goal per game in the playoffs, but had just 17 in Game 1. The Kings average 32 and had 25 in the series opener.

It took New Jersey six minutes to register a shot in the first period, and almost 15 minutes to register one in the second period. This is a team with star forwards like Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk and Adam Henrique.

Here is an interesting stat on the Devils' lack of shots (via ESPN):

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Devils had 9 shots in 1st 2 periods; franchise record for fewest in home playoff game is 14 (Game 5, Eastern Quarterfinals in 2007)

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 31, 2012"

Unless a team makes a mistake up ice, there won't be many scoring chances in this series. These teams are too strong defensively and their forwards do a tremendous job of backchecking and breaking up passes.

Game 1 also lacked any moments that could create some hatred between the teams heading into Game 2. There was nothing like the finger-biting incident that we had in last year's final, and there were no big-time hits that crossed the line.

It only takes one moment to light a fire beneath these teams and create an exciting series, but I don't see that happening.

This series will continue to be boring unless the Kings and Devils become more aggressive offensively and take more chances going up ice. Since both these teams thrive on playing solid defense and getting great goaltending, I can't see that happening.

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