Monday, June 11, saw the first Stanley Cup victory for the Los Angeles Kings since the team began forty-five years ago. The Kings faced off against the New Jersey Devils in Game six to finally take the cup with a 6-1 score.

The series was tight at 3-2. The Kings won the first three games in the series but the Devils came back strong and won the next 2 games. New Jersey Devils Captain Zach Parise said before game 6, “I don’t see any reason we should be over-confident or satisfied. We’re still down 3-2.”

In the first quarter of Game 6, Steve Bernier got a five-minute penalty for boarding and game misconduct after he hit Rob Scuderi from behind. After Bernier’s penalty the Kings started scoring; Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, and Trevor Lewis scored goals all in the first quarter after the penalty. It seemed as though the Devils lost their composure early on and were not able to muster a comeback.

The penalty from Bernier was not the first time violence broke out in the playoffs; although most of the games were clean, Game 5 saw a nasty scrum play out after a whistle blow. Kings forward Mike Richards said, “when you play a team five times in a week-and-a-half, it’s going to get a little more heated.”

Both teams had a great show of talent. Drew Doughty of the Kings had the worst season since his rookie year but the Finals was his best performance yet. Doughty scored two goals in the game and led the team in ice time. According to the Bleacher Report, Doughty did not play to his full potential this year.

Jonathan Quick of the Kings also demonstrated his talent, doing much better in the finals than his counterpart and veteran player Martin Brodeur. He didn’t give more than three goals in any game. Although the offensive improvements were important to the teams success, Quick’s fantastic defense was vital and provided the confidence the team needed to win.

Adam Henrique turned out to be the most impressive player for the Devils throughout the series, according to Bleach Report. He did well with power plays as well as penalty kills and has often been overshadowed by fellow teammates Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise.

Martin Brodeur, goaltender for the Devils did much worse than usual. The forty year old player and three time Stanley Cup winner only surrendered two goals in the last two games; however, this game saw him not at his best.

Several current and former NHL players tweeted their congratulations to the Kings. Gabriel Ladeskog of the Colorado Avalanches said, “if the Kings playoff run didn’t inspire all hockey players out there I don’t know what will. Congrats LA. Well deserved.” James van Riemsdyk of the Philadelphia Flyers wrote, “congrats to the kings; what a feeling that must be.”

Will Wheaton, known for his roles on “The Big Bang Theory” and “Star Trek” tweeted as well, writing, “I think my celebrating set off a car alarm five blocks away.”

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The Toronto Maple Leafs had a very busy 40 minutes of play on Wednesday, scoring five times to beat the New Jersey Devils 5-3. After a fight between Mike Brown and Brad Mills only five minutes into the first period, Leafs forward Joey Crabb started off with the scoring by putting a pass from Matthew Lombardi past Devils goalie Martin Brodeur a couple minutes later.

The Devils retaliated after four minutes with a power-play goal from Dainius Zubrus. Mikhail Grabovski helped the Leafs secure the lead before the end of the period by scoring off a pass from Jake Gardiner. The second period is where all the action happened. Patrik Elias tied up the game for the Devils by scoring a power-play goal three minutes in.

However, Joffrey Lupul got the lead back for the Leafs again three minutes later off a pass from Mike Komisarek. The Devils tied the game up yet again off a goal from David Clarkson, who scored two minutes after the last goal. Lupul put the puck in the net two more times, once nine minutes into the period and again three minutes later, to complete his hat-trick and secure the victory for the Leafs.

”I wouldn’t say we’re loosey-goosey,” Ron Wilson said in a post game interview with Fox Sports. ”But it’s like being in a sidecar of a motorcycle and not knowing where the driver is going. I’m happy we won, don’t get me wrong, but we’re starting to get picky about the way we win.” Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson made 19 saves throughout the game, with most of the shots coming in the second period.

Devils goalie Brodeur, in his second start of the season, only saw 23 shots in the game, making the five goals he allowed in to an uglier statistic. The Toronto Maple Leafs (8-3-1) travel to Ohio to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, while the New Jersey Devils (4-5-1) travel to Pennsylvania to face the Philadelphia Flyers.

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In Joe Thornton’s 1,000^th game of his career, the San Jose Sharks were able to break their three-game losing streak and secure the  4-3 victory in a shootout against the New Jersey Devils Friday night.

Joe Thornton, Ryan Clowe, and Joe Pavelski scored during regulation for the Sharks to bring the game into overtime; and Michal Handzus and Ryane Clowe scored in the shootout. Anti Niemi made 19 saves in net for the Sharks.

Patrik Elias and Zach Parise put the Devils ahead by two goals early in the game, and David Clarkson scored in the third period to give New Jersey the lead halfway through the period. Johan Hedburg made an amazing 41 saves in net for the Devils.

New Jersey Devils center Josef Jacobson broke his right clavicle falling awkwardly into the boards in the first period of the game; Elias tied the franchise lead for most power-play goals with 92, tying with John MacLean.

San Jose (2-3-0) and New Jersey (3-1-1) are both playing again on Saturday, with the Sharks traveling to play the Boston Bruins and the Devils traveling to play the Pittsburg Penguins.

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