Stanley Cup Finals 2012: The Kings Need to Close out the Devils in Game 6

It is high time the Los Angeles Kings think back to the final week of the 2011-12 regular season, when they were more like paupers looking for a hard-earned break.

Having thrashed through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs at 12-2, it is easy enough to forget that they did not even have their tournament passport until the penultimate game of the regular season. But now, they have missed two consecutive opportunities to finish off the New Jersey Devils and have but two more yet to come.

With Saturday night’s 2-1 loss in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Kings hold a losing record in postseason closeout situations at 3-4. In hindsight, that should come as little surprise.

Dating back to the on-the-fly introduction of head coach Darryl Sutter in December, L.A. has consistently been battling to merely sustain its season. The Kings' campaign of elimination evasion ultimately succeeded when they cemented their playoff spot while idle on April 4.

Playing each game under the knowledge that it could impact the continuation of one’s season makes great simulation for the playoffs, to a certain extent.

But even as the Kings closed out the first phase of the season, there was another development that perhaps, in retrospect, presaged things to come in the month of June.

They still had a chance to ascend the Western Conference standings, maybe even nab the Pacific Division crown, as they entered a home-and-home set with San Jose on April 5 and 7.

In both meetings, the Kings settled for a regulation tie and shootout loss, allowing the Sharks to finish one spot and one point ahead of them. And in one case, the oft-stingy goaltender Jonathan Quick endured his worst drubbing of the year by allowing five goals.

Naturally, there were no lingering consequences from that. All that mattered was they had a spot in the tournament, which they have utilized to the fullest through at least three-and-three-quarters of a round.

Still, there is something about those back-to-back shortcomings against the Sharks and these last two shortcomings against the Devils that should not be overlooked. The Kings defaulted when they had a division title within hooking distance, and, so far, they have defaulted with a playoff championship within hooking distance.

For what it’s worth, Quick had his worst single-night save percentage of the playoffs on Saturday, when he turned away only 17 out of 19, or 89.5 percent of the New Jersey shots.

If they swing and miss again at the Staples Center on Monday, the Kings will be facing a genuine elimination game for the first time all season in the form of a Game 7 on Wednesday.

Theoretically, based on the team’s six-month track record under Sutter, an L.A. fan could take comfort in his/her team’s ability to keep its poise and embrace the role of the hunted. But it would be better if the club readopted its old attitude while the must-win scenario is still merely virtual, just as it was until after Game No. 80 of the regular season.

Quick ought to harbor a keen desire to avoid facing Martin Brodeur in a winner-take-all tilt in the three-time champion and future Hall of Famer’s abode at the Prudential Center. Although history holds no technical sway on the present, it is worth noting that when one blows a commanding lead in a best-of-seven bout with Brodeur, there is no regaining that momentum.

Brodeur owns a 5-3 lifetime record in Game 7s, including a 3-0 mark in rubber games that he and his teammates forced. His team surmounted a 3-1 deficit to bump the Philadelphia Flyers in 2000, a 3-2 deficit to dislodge the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2001 and another 3-2 deficit to zap the Florida Panthers this year.

Furthermore, as part of their two season-saving victories, the Devils have only begun to thaw out their power play, their top line and their surprise point-based producer in Bryce Salvador.

The time and place for the Kings to put a freeze back on those is Monday night at the Staples Center. Otherwise, the momentum for the likes of Salvador, Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk and Travis Zajac, not to mention the Devils in general, will be too much to repeal.