The Los Angeles Kings entered the NHL in 1967 and had gone over 40 seasons without a Stanley Cup. During the 2011-12 season, it looked like that streak was going to continue, but they put together an incredible playoff run that culminated with their first Stanley Cup.
Entering the playoffs, no one would have expected the Kings to get as far as they did. They had three different head coaches during the regular season as they would fire Terry Murray during the season and before hiring Darryl Sutter, had John Stevens coach four games.
It was not until the very end of the regular season that the Kings even knew they were going to be in the playoffs. They would clinch the eight seed after going 1-0-2 over the final four games to finish the regular season with 95 points.
LA Kings faced the best the Western Conference had to offer in the playoffs
As the eighth seed, the Kings would match up with the top seed in the Western Conference in the Vancouver Canucks. However, they jumped out to a big series lead as they won the first three games and would advance in five to the next round.
At the time, the NHL did re-seeding so the highest remaining seeded team would play the lowest-seeded team. That meant the Kings would match up with the St. Louis Blues, who were the two seed that year.
Once again, the Blues were no match and the Kings would sweep the Blues before meeting the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Final. It was more of the same as the Kings got a three-game lead in the series and would win in five to advance to their second Stanley Cup Final in franchise history.
The first two games of the series were much closer than previous series for the Kings as Game 1 and Game 2 went to overtime, but in both cases, the Kings came away as the winners. In Game 3, it wasn't really close thanks to Jonathan Quick securing a shutout as they won 4-0.
The Devils didn't go away and would win the next two games before the Los Angeles Kings won the series in Game 6. It was a historic win as it was the first time in NHL history than an eight seed would win the Stanley Cup.
It was certainly a team effort but Jonathan Quick had the best performance over the playoff run as he would secure three shutouts along the way and have a save percentage of .946. He would go on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy that year for his efforts.
While fans had to wait for over 40 years for their first Stanley Cup, there was something magical about this underdog run by the Kings that made it almost worth waiting as long as they did.