The NHL is one day away from the start of an improbable Stanley Cup final that will take hockey fans from coast to coast.
New Jersey hosts Los Angeles in Game One on Wednesday night. Starting on the road should be fine for the Kings, who have won all eight games away from L.A. en route to a dazzling 12-2 playoff record.
"If you told anybody, let alone us in the dressing room, that we'd have a place in the finals as an eight seed, I would have only told you that you were crazy if you said it took 14 games," Kings forward Justin Williams said.
L.A. captain Dustin Brown has 16 points in the 14 games and has been agitating the Kings' trounced opponents.
The Devils, though, have earned their spot in the finals and have plenty of reasons to feel good about bringing another Cup to New Jersey.
---John Vogl
