Los Angeles vs. San Jose: Is a Kings Dynasty Brewing?

Dynasties in the NHL have become dinosaurs.

The Los Angeles Kings are trying to turn the clock back to the prehistoric era by winning multiple Stanley Cup championships.

The Kings may have a long way to go, but they have played a complete game and gotten sensational goaltending from Jonathan Quick to survive the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The San Jose Sharks were a most worthy adversary for the defending Stanley Cup champions. They won all their home games and pushed the conference semifinal series to the limit. They were hard on the puck throughout the seventh game, but they found themselves in a deep hole going into the third period because Justin Williams had scored two second-period goals.

The Sharks got on the board when Dan Boyle blasted one in from the blue line, but it wasn't enough. Quick simply wouldn't allow it.

Perhaps his best save came late in the third period when Joe Pavelski fished a puck out of his skates and got it on his forehand as Quick struggled to get in position. Pavelski fired a low shot, and Quick stuck out his glove and caught it.

If Pavelski could have lifted the puck eight inches higher, the Sharks would have pushed the seventh game into overtime.

When you are talking about a dynasty, the Kings have a chance to build what passes for one in the current era. They are halfway to repeating, and if they end up playing the Chicago Blackhawks, the NHL's best regular-season team, in the Western Conference Finals, they have the goods to break hearts in the Windy City.

If they get through the Blackhawks (or the Detroit Red Wings), they would go into the Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins or Boston Bruins as the underdogs.

That's a position that the Kings like to be in. They have won their last five playoff series when their opponent has the home-ice advantage.

Prior to last year's Cup run, the Kings were a team that had goaltending and defense, but they lacked timely scoring. That changed at the end of the 2011-12 season when Los Angeles brought in Jeff Carter. 

The Kings are not going to score goals like the Penguins or Blackhawks when they are on top of their games, but when they are playing strong defense, Carter, Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty and Slava Voynov are going to find a way to score.

And if those first-line players don't do it, a role player like Williams, Dustin Penner or Trevor Lewis may find the back of the net.

The Kings are somewhat similar to the Boston Bruins, the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011. The Bruins do it with depth, defense and goaltending. They have shown a certain sense of camaraderie and belief, much like the Kings.

However, when the Bruins had a chance to defend the Stanley Cup last year, they lost in the conference quarterfinals to the Washington Capitals.

While Boston showed a certain indomitability in its remarkable seventh-game comeback win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of this postseason, it took a year off to display that characteristic.

The Kings have not taken any time off.

Neither has Quick. If he's not the best goalie in the NHL, he's second to Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. Even if his teammates slip up, he is going to give the Kings a chance every night.

The NHL used to be a league laden with dynasties. In the late 1970s, the Montreal Canadiens arguably had the best team in hockey with Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden and a slew of stars. They won four straight titles from 1976 through '79.

They handed the baton to the New York Islanders, who used the talents of Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier and Billy Smith to win four consecutive Cups of their own in the early 1980s.

The Edmonton Oilers, with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr, won four championships in five years after wrestling the championship away from the Islanders.

Since then, the Penguins won two in a row in 1991 and '92. The Detroit Red Wings were the last team to win consecutive Stanley Cups, accomplishing the feat in 1997 and '98.

The definition of a dynasty has likely changed. Two championships in a row would be an impressive feat, but that's not enough to make a dynasty.

Three straight titles or three out of four would likely do it.

The Kings have a complete team. If they can't win a second straight championship this year, they have still demonstrated that they are very tough in the playoffs.

But if they can hoist the Cup again, they just might be in line to become the NHL's next dynasty.