Leave it to the Pancake Man to come up with the quote of the evening.
Shortly after the Kings dispached of the New Jersey Devils 4-0 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals, Dustin Penner took note of the raucous Staples Center crowd and anticipated an even louder one should L.A. do the business on Wednesday and hoist Lord Stanley’s Mug for the first time in franchise history.
“If we win one more game, I hope the San Andreas fault can take it,” Penner said.
The comment came on a night when the Kings set a Staples Center attendance for a hockey game -- 18,764 -- and the building was rocking throughout.
L.A. masterfully killed New Jersey’s 5-on-3 power play in the first period, drawing a chorus of cheers, then followed it with two goals in both the second and third periods to send Kings fans into a frenzy.
While we’re unsure if Penner was aware of this or not, Los Angeles could ellicit a quake-like response on Wednesday -- something that hasn’t happened in recent Stanley Cup finals
-- In 2011, the Bruins won the Cup in Vancouver (in Game 7)
-- In 2010, the Blackhawks won the Cup in Philadelphia (in overtime, no less)
-- In 2009, the Penguins won the Cup in Detroit (in Game 7)
-- In 2008, the Red Wings won the Cup in Pittsburgh.
Those four wins essentially silenced the arenas. You have to go all the way back to 2007 -- when Anaheim won the Cup at the Honda Center -- to find the last team to hoist the mug in front of its home fans.