Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kings couldn’t match the Devils desperation in Game 4

Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Anze Kopitar

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 06: Jeff Carter #77, Mike Richards #10 and Anze Kopitar #11 of the Los Angeles Kings prepare of the start of Game Four of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final at the Staples Center on June 6, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

The New Jersey Devils had every reason to be desperate going into Game 4 on Wednesday. After all, they were down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have ever managed to hoist the Stanley Cup after losing Games 1 through 3.

So it’s not surprising that New Jersey had a strong game on Wednesday, especially in the third period. The Devils managed to earn a 3-1 victory and extend the series.

“They played with a little more desperation than we did,” Anze Kopitar confirmed, “and we have to correct that in Game 5.”

The danger with going up 3-0 is that you can be lulled into a false sense of security or get overwhelmed by the pressure of the expectations it comes with, but those are issues that almost every 3-0 team end up overcoming. On top of that, if anyone has experience with what to do when you take a 3-0 series lead, it’s the 2012 Los Angeles Kings.

They set an NHL record by taking a 3-0 lead in all four of their playoff series. They went on to surrender Game 4 in three of those series, but they haven’t allowed a series to go beyond Game 5. We’ll see if they can continue that trend when the Stanley Cup finals resume on Saturday.