For the third straight year, the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final went to overtime. In game two this year, one overtime period was not enough to decide a winner. In the second overtime period, Los Angeles' right wing Dustin Brown tipped in the game-winning goal to lift the Kings to a 5-4 victory over the New York Rangers.
The Kings battled back from a two-goal deficit for the third straight game to win in overtime. They are the first team to do this feat in Stanley Cup Playoffs history, reports Chantel McCabe. In this game, they trailed by two goals on three separate occasions.
The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals by defenseman Ryan McDonagh and right wing Mats Zuccarello.
After center Jarret Stoll got Los Angeles on the board with a goal early in the second period, New York right wing Martin St. Louis netted a power-play goal to build the lead back up to two.
Later in the period, Kings’ defenseman Willie Mitchell scored his first goal of the postseason. Eleven seconds after this score, Rangers center Derick Brassard netted a goal to make the score 4-2.
Less than two minutes into the third period, left wing Dwight King pulled the Kings within one. Six minutes later, Los Angeles right wing Marian Gaborik (a former Ranger) netted his 13th goal of the playoffs to tie the game.
After a scoreless first overtime, Brown’s goal ended the game midway through the second overtime period.
“We’ve been through a lot of emotional ups and downs,” Brown said after the game, according to lakingsinsider.com . “I’m confident in our group, that we can sort it out and figure it out. We’re also aware of the type of team we are, how good we can be. It’s just a matter of resetting, reloading and dialing it in for Game 3.”
Los Angeles right wing Justin Williams amassed three assists in the contest.
Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick made 34 saves (.895 save percentage), and Hendrik Lundqvist recorded 39 saves (.886 save percentage) for the Rangers, reports ESPN .
Game three will be at Madison Square Garden in New York and is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Monday.