Los Angeles works double overtime to capture Stanley Cup

Los Angeles works double overtime to capture Stanley Cup

Associated Press

LOS ANGELE

Alec Martinez scored 14:43 into the second overtime, and the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 5 on Friday night.

Marian Gaborik scored a tying power-play goal with 12:04 left in regulation for the resilient Kings, who rallied from yet another deficit before finishing off the Rangers in the longest game in franchise history.

Jonathan Quick made 28 saves and Justin Williams scored an early goal as Los Angeles added a second title to its 2012 championship, the first in the franchise’s 47-year history. After innumerable late chances, Martinez popped home a rebound of Tyler Toffoli’s shot. Martinez also scored the overtime winner to beat Chicago in the Western Conference finals.

Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal and Brian Boyle added a short-handed score late in the second period for the Rangers, who were trying to avoid elimination again after winning Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 40 shots in another standout performance, but Gaborik poked the tying goal between his legs on a rebound for his 14th goal in a spectacular postseason by the Kings’ late-season acquisition.

The game was the third time overtime in three Stanley Cup Final games at Staples Center and the second to go to a second OT.

Both teams had tantalizing scoring chances in the first overtime, but couldn’t convert.

Ryan McDonagh hit Quick’s post with a long shot during an early power play. Toffoli rang a shot off Lundqvist’s post with 7:15 left, and the Kings trapped New York in its own end for an exhausting stretch late in the period.

Kreider got a breakaway in the final minute after Drew Doughty fell down, but he missed the net.

After falling behind early, New York outplayed the Kings and finally got the equalizer with 4:23 left in the second period while Dwight King was in the box for high-sticking. After several sharp passes in a prolonged possession, Ryan McDonagh found Kreider in front for New York’s second power-play score of the series.

Boyle then got a stunner, capitalizing on the Kings’ poor power-play work in the final minute of the period. He skated around Doughty and wired a shot into the far top corner behind Quick with 29 seconds left.

It was Boyle’s third goal in 25 postseason games.

Los Angeles got another big-game goal from Williams, who put the Kings ahead just 6:04 into Game 5 after linemates Dwight King and Jarret Stoll applied pressure on Lundqvist, who made 40 saves in the Rangers’ victory in Game 4.