The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The team played its home games at the Forum in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, for 32 years, until it moved to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles at the start of the 1999–2000 season.
Marc-André Fleury is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). Drafted out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Fleury played major junior for four seasons with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, earning both the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league's top prospect and the Telus Cup as the top defensive player in 2003. He joined the Penguins in 2003–04 and during his 13 seasons with the team won Stanley Cup championships in 2009, 2016, and 2017. He received the William M. Jennings Trophy and the Vezina Trophy in 2021. He is the third goaltender to ever reach the 500 victories mark in the NHL, after Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur, and the fourth goaltender to reach 1,000 games played, after Roy, Brodeur, and Roberto Luongo.
Overtime is a method of determining a winner in an ice hockey game when the score is tied after regulation. The main methods of determining a winner in a tied game are the overtime period, the shootout, or a combination of both. If league rules dictate a finite time in which overtime may be played, with no penalty shoot-out to follow, the game's winning team may or may not be necessarily determined.
Richard Brooks Orpik is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). A stay-at-home defenseman and locker room leader, Orpik is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, winning with the Penguins in 2009 and with the Capitals in 2018.
Alexander Pietrangelo is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the St. Louis Blues for parts of twelve seasons, captaining the Blues for his final four seasons with the franchise. Nicknamed "Petro", as a junior, he played with the Niagara IceDogs and Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Pietrangelo is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, winning with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023.
Jonathan Douglas Quick is an American professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Quick was selected in the third round, 72nd overall, by the Los Angeles Kings at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
Brayden Luke McNabb is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was originally selected 66th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He previously played for the Sabres and the Los Angeles Kings. McNabb won the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023.
Ryan Reaves is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, and New York Rangers. He is the son of former gridiron football player, Willard Reaves, who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and National Football League (NFL).
Mark Stone is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger and captain of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the sixth round, 178th overall, of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
Laurent Brossoit is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. Brossoit won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023.
Derrick Pouliot is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing for the Texas Stars in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Dallas Stars in the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle Kraken and the San Jose Sharks. Pouliot was selected eighth overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Penguins.
The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2013–14 season, and the culmination of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. The League realigned its divisions prior to the season, and changed the structure of the playoffs, but the championship series remained the same. The Western Conference champion Los Angeles Kings defeated the Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers four games to one to win their second championship in franchise history, marking the first time since 2007 that the championship series was determined in fewer than six games. Their Stanley Cup–winning run of 26 playoff games was later tied by the 2019 St. Louis Blues for the longest of any Stanley Cup–winning team in history.
Colin Miller is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played in the NHL for the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights, Buffalo Sabres, Dallas Stars, and New Jersey Devils. Miller was selected in the fifth round, 151st overall, by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
Ben Hutton is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hutton was drafted 147th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Golden Knights compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expansion team, the team is the first major sports franchise to represent Las Vegas. The franchise is primarily owned by Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, a consortium led by Bill Foley, with Adrienne Maloof holding a minority stake. Their home games are played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.
The history of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League begins in 1966, as the league prepared a major expansion for the upcoming season, and awarded a new team to Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Jack Kent Cooke, who also owned the Los Angeles Lakers. While the Los Angeles Kings awaited construction to be completed on their future home, The Forum in Inglewood, California, they played their first two games during their inaugural 1967–68 season at the Long Beach Arena. The first game in Kings history was played on Oct. 14, 1967 and the Kings defeated the fellow expansion Philadelphia Flyers 4–2 in front of 7,023. They also played 14 games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena while awaiting the completion of the construction of the Forum. The Kings hosted their first game at the Forum on Dec. 30, 1967, a 2–0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. They went on to play their first 32 seasons at Forum before moving to the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles in 1999.
Zach Whitecloud is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). Whitecloud went undrafted while playing for Bemidji State University. As a college free agent, he signed with the Golden Knights in 2018.
The 2019–20 Vegas Golden Knights season was the third season for the National Hockey League franchise that started playing in the 2017–18 season. They played their home games at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. They made the playoffs for the third straight season after losing in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs to the San Jose Sharks the year prior. On October 17, 2019, the NHL suspended Valentin Zykov for 20 regular season games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
Logan Thompson is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). After playing junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Thompson went undrafted, and spent time in U Sports, the ECHL, and the American Hockey League (AHL) before signing his first NHL contract with the Golden Knights in 2020. After two years spent primarily with the AHL Henderson Silver Knights, Thompson received significant playing time in the 2021–22 season due to injuries to other Vegas goaltenders, becoming the first former U Sports goaltender to start an NHL game in over 30 years. After taking over as Vegas' starting goaltender for the 2022–23 season, Thompson was named an NHL All-Star in 2023 and won the Stanley Cup with Vegas the same year, despite suffering injuries late in the season. Internationally, Thompson has represented Canada on one occasion, winning a silver medal at the 2022 edition of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship.
The 2023 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2022–23 season and the culmination of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers four games to one in the best-of-seven series to earn their first championship in their sixth season. Vegas had home ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record.
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