LOS ANGELES - Although Mike Richards has only been in Los Angeles for less than a year, he has a pretty good idea what 45 years of simmering frustration will sound like when his Kings take the ice with the Stanley Cup nearly in reach.
"That's probably one of the loudest rinks I've ever played in, and it's going to be even louder tomorrow," the center said Sunday, already anticipating the energy at Staples Center for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night.
A coronation just feels imminent for these Kings, who opened the finals by adding two more victories in New Jersey to the longest run of road perfection in NHL playoff history - 10-0 this season, and 12-0 dating to last season.
Now that the Kings are back home on the West Coast, the Stanley Cup has never been closer to going Hollywood.
Los Angeles is two wins away from earning the franchise's first title and burying 4 1/2 decades of monotonous ineptitude interrupted only by short stretches of brilliance from Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne and a few other stars who wore the club's ever-changing uniforms - including another switch to that eye-catching "LA" logo before this season.
"I don't think I've ever been on a team like this where everybody is locked in," said Jeff Carter, like Richards a former Flyer. "Everybody knows what they need to do."
The Kings won both games in New Jersey, 2-1, in overtime.
"I think it would mean the world to this franchise [to win the Cup],'' Carter said. "They've done a great job of sticking to the plan here and building this organization, and this would be the reward."
