Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings faceoff for Game 5 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series 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 ESPN while Los Angeles fans can do the same on Fox Sports 570.
New York looks to avoid elimination for the second straight game and win its first road game of the series while Los Angeles looks to close out the series on its second chance and to hoist its second Stanley Cup in the last three years.
The Kings took the first two home games of the series with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 1 and a 5-4 double overtime victory in Game 2. Los Angeles then put the pressure on the Rangers in New York by winning Game 3 by a 3-0 margin until the Blueshirts finally got into the series with a 2-1 victory in Wednesday's Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers realize they're up against the wall, but the Blueshirts hope to keep their minds on what they need to do right, not the fact that the Kings are one win away from hoisting the best trophy in sports.
"I'm not going to think too much about where they are mentally," goalie Henrik Lundqvist said about the Kings Thursday via NHL.com. "It's more about what we need to do. I know if we win tomorrow, they are definitely going to feel the pressure...It is a great opportunity for us to try to take this back to New York. It would be a lot of fun to get another game in New York and see what we can do with that. But that's as far as we look right now."
The Kings realize things will be much easier if they win it all in Game 5 rather than flying across the country back to Madison Square Garden with the pressure on to close it out in Game 6 in order to avoid a Game 7.
Lundqvist is 13-10 this postseason and ranks second in the postseason with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. He'll be opposed by Kings netminder Jonathan Quick, who is 15-10 with a 2.66 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
"We'll be ready," Kings forward Justin Williams said Thursday per NHL.com. "We know what is at stake. We don't want to go back there. It's a long plane ride."
Williams (eight goals, 16 assists) and Jeff Carter (10 tallies, 14 helpers) are tied for second on Los Angeles with 24 points while Anze Kopitar paces the entire postseason in points (26) and assists (21) and has added five goals. Marian Gaborik leads the NHL with 13 goals and has added eight assists for 21 points.
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh leads New York with 16 points off of four goals and 12 assists while forwards Martin St. Louis (eight goals, seven assists) and Derek Stepan (five markers, 10 tallies) are tied for second on the team with 15 points apiece.
The Rangers look to force a Game 6 while the Kings hope to hoist the Stanley Cup on Staples Center ice for the second time in three years when the puck drops on Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final tonight in Los Angeles.
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