The LA Kings and NY Rangers will contest this year's NHL Stanley Cup Final, with Game 1 taking place on Wednesday night. Both teams have had marathon journeys through the postseason, but they have finally reached their target destination, and neither will want to lose out on the title now.
Tonight's Game 1 is extremely important for many reasons. Both teams will want to get a good start to the Finals, and both will know how important it is to find rhythm in a series and get off to a positive start that can build confidence.
The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. EST and can be watched on NBC or online through live stream – free for subscribers – via the link provided below.
Out of the possible combined 42 games these two teams could have taken to reach the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals, they have played 41 of them. In all three prior rounds of the Playoffs the Kings have had to win Game 7 to go through, making their postseason game count 21.
The Rangers have done just one better, needing 20 of 21 games to win through to this series.
Both sides may feel a bit more battered and tired than usual, but there's nothing like a Stanley Cup Finals series to revitalize and give extra adrenaline to skate off.
"No, you don't get tired right now," explained Kings forward Marian Gaborik. "All you think about is winning the Stanley Cup."
This will be the first time the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings have played in a Stanley Cup Final in NHL history, and all signs are that this series could also go all the way to a Game 7.
Until this season, no team has made it to the Stanley Cup Finals after being forced to play 7 games in each of the first two rounds of the Playoffs – this season both the Rangers and Kings have done that.
The Rangers vs Kings will start at 8 p.m. EST and can be watched by clicking here.
