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What could possibly stop the Kings?

Kings win

Twelve wins in 14 playoff games. A perfect 8-0 road record. The Los Angeles Kings are going to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1993, and this time they’re going in juggernaut fashion.

But what, if anything, could trip them up? We’ve come up with three possibilities that don’t include kidnapping Jonathan Quick, kidnapping Anze Kopitar, kidnapping Drew Doughty...basically we’ve ruled out kidnappings.

1. The long week off. Game 1 of the Cup finals isn’t scheduled until next Wednesday, meaning another big break for the Kings. Not that there’s anything wrong with getting some rest – the New York Rangers wouldn’t mind falling into a nice coma for a few days – but too much rest can cause rust. And even though it wasn’t a problem for the Kings after the first or second round, it still could be. Plus, we’re contractually bound as sportswriters to mention stuff like the rust factor.

2. The power play. It’s not good. In fact, it’s awful. Just six goals on 74 chances (8.1%). Yeah, yeah, the 2011 Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup despite a bad power play; however, we’d wager more teams have lost the Cup because they couldn’t convert with the man advantage. For example, the 2011 Vancouver Canucks.

3. Overconfidence. Not to take anything away from the Kings’ spectacular playoff run, but they’ve had quite a few things go their way. First they got a Canucks team without Daniel Sedin for three games. Next up were the Blues, minus goalie Jaroslav Halak the entire series, with Alex Pietrangelo missing one game and playing the rest on a sprained knee. Then came the Phoenix “Just Happy to be Here” Coyotes who didn’t stop basking in the glow of the conference finals until it was too late. Again, I’m not trying to take anything away from the Kings. All I’m doing is calling them lucky SOBs.

Any other reason to think the Kings won’t be waltzing to a championship? Other, of course, than the fact the Rangers and Devils are pretty good teams themselves. Share in the comments section.