The Los Angeles Kings became just the fourth team in NHL history to comeback from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series after defeating the San Jose Sharks in their Round 1 Game 7 matchup Wednesday night.
With the 5-1 win the Kings will face cross-town rivals in the Anaheim Ducks. It’s the first time the two Southern California teams have ever met in the post-season.
Coming back from an 0-3 hole in the playoffs has never been done in the NBA. It’s only happened once in MLB: the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.
“When you’ve gone to the top of the mountain with the same group of guys it’s a little bit easier when you’re at the bottom to come up,” said captain Dustin Brown, who scored an empty-net goal to seal the game. “That’s what a lot of this team is about, our guys who have stuck together and played together for years.”
Anze Kopitar scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Jonathan Quick made 39 saves to cap the Kings’ historic comeback in their first-round series.
The Kings joined Toronto (1942), the New York Islanders (1975) and Philadelphia (2010) as the only teams to complete that comeback and now will get another California showdown in the second-round with the first Freeway Playoff against the Anaheim Ducks.
The final seconds of the epic comeback:
Updated Stanley Cup Playoff bracket
Josh Helmuth is the editor of CraveOnline Sports. @JHelmuth – “Like” on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty
