GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dustin Penner scored 17:42 into overtime, and the Los Angeles Kings are headed to the Stanley Cup finals for the second time as a franchise after beating the Phoenix Coyotes with a 4-3 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dustin Penner scored 17:42 into overtime, and the Los Angeles Kings are headed to the Stanley Cup finals for the second time as a franchise after beating the Phoenix Coyotes with a 4-3 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night.
Penner gathered a bouncing puck and beat Mike Smith between the pads for the game-winner, extending the Kings’ road winning streak to an NHL-record eight straight games. Anze Kopitar scored a short-handed goal, Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist, and Mike Richards also scored for Los Angeles.
“I got a lucky bounce,” Penner said. “I just waited for it to settle down, and I got a chance to get it in the net.”
The first team to go undefeated on the road en route to the Stanley Cup finals, the Kings will play Game 1 on May 30 at either New Jersey or New York.
Los Angeles is in the final round for the first time since 1993, when Wayne Gretzky and the Kings lost to the Montreal Canadiens in their only finals appearance.
Taylor Pyatt had a goal and an assist, and Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Keith Yandle also scored for the Coyotes in their first trip to the Western Conference finals.
Los Angeles blew one chance to put away the pesky Coyotes.
Leading the series 3-0 and playing at home, the Kings couldn’t match Phoenix’s intensity in Game 4 and lost 2-0, giving the Coyotes a glimmer of hope.
What they didn’t want to do was give them momentum.
Phoenix has been as good as any team in the league when the confidence is rolling, using an 11-game winning streak in February to get back into the playoff race and a five-game streak to close out its first NHL division title.
The Kings had come through in this spot once before, beating top-seeded Vancouver on the road after failing to complete the sweep at home in Game 4.