2012 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Los Angeles Kings 2* 2* 4 1 1 6 4 New Jersey Devils 1* 1* 0 3 2 1 2
* – Denotes overtime period(s)
Location(s)	Los Angeles: Staples Center (3, 4, 6) Newark: Prudential Center (1, 2, 5)
Coaches	Los Angeles: Darryl Sutter New Jersey: Peter DeBoer
Captains	Los Angeles: Dustin Brown New Jersey: Zach Parise
National anthems	Los Angeles: Pia Toscano New Jersey: Arlette Roxburgh
Referees	Dan O'Halloran (1, 3, 5) Dan O'Rourke (2, 4, 6) Chris Rooney (2, 4, 6) Brad Watson (1, 3, 5)
Dates	May 30 – June 11, 2012
MVP	Jonathan Quick (Kings)
Series-winning goal	Jeff Carter (12:45, first, G6)
Hall of Famers	Devils: Martin Brodeur (2018)
Networks	Canada: (English): CBC (French): RDS United States: (English): NBC (1–2, 5–6), NBCSN (3–4)
Announcers	(CBC) Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, and Glenn Healy (RDS) Pierre Houde and Marc Denis (NBC/NBCSN) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire (NHL International) Dave Strader and Joe Micheletti
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The 2012 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2011–12 season, and the culmination of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference playoff champion Los Angeles Kings defeated the Eastern Conference playoff champion New Jersey Devils four games to two, capturing the first Stanley Cup title in the team's 45-year history, dealing the Devils just their second Stanley Cup Finals defeat in five tries and first since 2001. Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Kings made their second appearance in the Finals in franchise history, they lost in their previous appearance to the Montreal Canadiens in five games in 1993.^[1] The New Jersey Devils last appeared in 2003, when they defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup title.^[2] It was the first championship series since 2007 whose Stanley Cup-clinching game was played on the winning team's home ice.

The Eastern Conference winner had home ice advantage for the first time since 2006, since the Devils had a better regular season record than the Kings. The Devils were the lowest-seeded team to have home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals, a record previously held by the Devils when they won the Cup as a fourth seed in 2000. With the Devils entering the playoffs as the ninth seed of the sixteen playoff teams by regular season record (no division titles) and the Kings as the thirteenth, their combined seed of twenty-two was the second highest of any playoff matchup (only trailing the 1991 Cup Finals with twenty-three), and it was the first playoff matchup with no team seeded better than ninth. The Kings became the first eighth-seeded team in North American sports history to win a championship, as well as the only eighth-seeded team to win the Stanley Cup to date.^[3][4]

Paths to the Finals

Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings historically had not fared well in the postseason, having only progressed beyond second round of the playoffs once in franchise history. There were some highlights in franchise history, such as a dramatic seven-game series loss to the heavily favoured Boston Bruins in 1976, the upset of the top seeded Edmonton Oilers (including the game three Miracle on Manchester) in 1982, a comeback from a 3–1 series deficit to beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Oilers in 1989, and an upset of a second-seeded Detroit Red Wings team in 2001 often referred to as the “Frenzy on Figueroa.”^[5] The first time that they advanced to the Western Conference Final was in 1993, where the Kings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games to reach their first Cup Finals in franchise history, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. From 1994 to 2011 the Kings won just one playoff series in 2001 against the aforementioned Red Wings team and coming back from a 3–1 deficit to push the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche to seven games.

The Kings started the regular season at 13–12–4 before firing head coach Terry Murray on December 12, 2011. John Stevens served as interim coach before the team hired Darryl Sutter on December 20. Under Sutter, the Kings finished the season at 95 points. The Kings lost their final two regular season games to fall from first place in the Pacific Division (and the #3 seed in the West) to third place in the division and eighth in the conference. The Kings won only 40 out 82 games, and with 95 points became first losing record team to finish the season with more than 90 points.

The Kings then went on to become the second team to eliminate the first, second and thirds seeds from the playoffs in the same postseason (and the first team to do so in that order), after the 2003–04 Calgary Flames, also coached by Darryl Sutter, eliminating the Vancouver Canucks in five games, the St. Louis Blues in four games, and the Phoenix Coyotes in five games. In addition, the Kings went a perfect 8–0 on the road in these playoff games and the first team to go undefeated while en route to the Finals.^[6]

The Kings are the second eighth seed to reach the Finals, following the Edmonton Oilers in 2006 (the Oilers lost out to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games). Kings players Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene were part of that Oilers team in 2006, while teammate Justin Williams played for the Cup-winning Hurricanes.^[7]

New Jersey Devils

The Devils started the season having missed the playoffs in the 2010–11 season for the first time since 1995–96 season, breaking a 13-year consecutive postseason appearance streak. This was the Devils' first season under head coach Peter DeBoer, who replaced the retiring Jacques Lemaire during the offseason. Under DeBoer, New Jersey finished the regular season with 102 points, but ended up with the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Devils eliminated DeBoer's former team, the Southeast division-winning Florida Panthers, in seven games, and two of their division rivals, first the fifth-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in five games, and the first-seeded New York Rangers in six games.

Game summaries

Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the entire four rounds of the playoffs

Game one

Los Angeles scored first on Colin Fraser's goal at 9:56 of the first period.The Kings then held the Devils without a shot on goal for the first 14 minutes of the second period, but could not increase their lead.^[8] The Devils tied the game at 18:48 of the second period when Anton Volchenkov's shot bounced off of Kings defenceman Slava Voynov and into the Los Angeles net.^[9] At 3:58 of the third period, a Devils goal was waved off when Zach Parise illegally pushed the puck with his hand over the Kings goal line. Anze Kopitar beat Martin Brodeur on a breakaway goal 8:13 into overtime to give the Kings a 2–1 win in game one.

With the win, the Kings became the first team to win their first nine road games in a single postseason.

Game two

The Kings extended their 2012 playoff road winning streak to ten with another 2–1 overtime victory. This time, it was Jeff Carter who scored at 13:42 of the extra period. After Carter's initial shot from the right side was stopped, he then went around the net to grab the puck on the other side and then made a shot through traffic that beat Martin Brodeur. Los Angeles scored first on Drew Doughty's unassisted goal at 7:49 of the first period. The Devils tied the game at 2:59 of the third period when Ryan Carter deflected Marek Zidlicky's shot into the Kings' net. Neither team could take advantage of their power plays, nor on a 4-on-4 late in the third period. Both teams had more shots than game one; Jonathan Quick made 32 out of 33 saves, while Brodeur made 30 out of 32.

Game three

Los Angeles scored four goals, and Jonathan Quick stopped all 22 New Jersey shots, as the Kings defeated the Devils 4–0. The Kings' first goal at 5:58 of the second period was controversial. Dwight King's original shot against Martin Brodeur was stopped, but King kept on swiping the puck until Alec Martinez finally pushed it across the goal line. Brodeur argued that he had the puck covered up just before Martinez's shot, but the officials did not blow the play dead and the goal stood.> The Kings' scored their second goal at 15:07 of the third period when Justin Williams sent a pass near the boards to Dustin Brown, who then passed to Anze Kopitar on the other side, who then lifted the puck over Brodeur. In the third period, two New Jersey penalties led to two Los Angeles power play goals. Meanwhile, New Jersey could not score off of Los Angeles' five penalties during the game, including Jeff Carter's high-sticking double-minor in the first period that led to a Devils 5 on 3 for about a minute.

This contest also saw the return of Kings' left winger Simon Gagne, who had been out of the Los Angeles lineup since December 26, 2011, due to a head injury. Gagne, who played in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three years, took Brad Richardson's spot in the lineup. In 2010, Gagne, along with current Kings teammates Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, were members of the Philadelphia Flyers that lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

With the win, the Kings became the first team in NHL history to take a 3–0 series lead in all four rounds of the playoffs.^[10]