Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings faceoff for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The game can be live streamed for free here. New York fans can hear all of the action on 98.7 WEPN while Los Angeles fans can do the same on Fox Sports 570.
New York enters the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it all 20 years ago in 1994 while Los Angeles looks for its second Cup in three years after lifting the best trophy in sports for the first time in franchise history in 2012.
The Rangers topped the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games, came back from a 3-1 hole to off the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games and then topped the Montreal Canadiens in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals to get here.
The Kings have been kings of the comeback all postseason long, coming out of a 3-0 hole against the San Jose Sharks in Round 1 and a 3-2 series hole in Round 2 against the Anaheim Ducks. The Kings beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks for their third straight Game 7 win in the Western Conference Finals.
These teams split their regular season meetings this year, but haven't played each other since November.
"We've got our hands full and we're ready for it," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said per NHL.com.
After playing the maximum 21 games through the first three rounds, the Kings will look to win the Cup for the second time in three years.
"It was such an emotional series [against Chicago], and we always talk about how you can't get too high and too low," Kings top-line center Anze Kopitar told NHL.com. "Now it's a time to relax a little bit, but at the same time get your heads right for [Wednesday]. Obviously it's the first time that we've gotten home ice right now, and it's very nice, and we're going to have to cash in on it."
Kopitar leads the postseason in points (24) and assists (19) and has added five goals while Marian Gaborik leads the playoffs with 12 goals and has added seven tallies for 19 points. Jeff Carter is second on the Kings with 22 points while lighting the lamp nine times and adding 13 assists.
The Rangers have three players tied for the team lead with 13 points in Martin St. Louis (six goals, seven assists), Derek Stepan (five markers, eight helpers) and Ryan McDonagh (three tallies, 10 assists).
New York turns to Henrik Lundqvist in net, who is 12-7 and ranks second in the postseason with a 2.03 goals-against average and is first with a .928 save percentage while Jonathan Quick will be between the pipes for Los Angeles, and is 12-9 with a 2.86 GAA and a .906 save percentage.
The Rangers and Kings kick off their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series tonight when the puck drops at the Staples Center tonight in Los Angeles.
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