LA Kings - Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded on February 9, 1966, when Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The Kings called The Forum in Inglewood, California (a suburb of Los Angeles), their home for thirty-two years until they moved to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles to start the 1999–2000 season.

Historically, the Kings have had more heartaches than triumphs, winning their division only once in 1990–91, and having many years marked by impressive play in the regular season only to be washed out by early playoff exits. Their highlights included the strong goaltending of Rogie Vachon during the mid 1970s, and the thrilling play of the "Triple Crown Line" in the early 80s, which included Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor and hall of fame player Marcel Dionne, who at one point was third in all time scoring to Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky. In 1982, the Kings famously upset the uprising Edmonton Oilers in a playoff game known as the Miracle on Manchester and won the series as well. However, the Kings quickly faded into mediocrity during the mid 1980s while other teams in their division enjoyed success.

LA Kings - Los Angeles Kings

Another hall of fame player, Luc Robitaille, began his 20 year long NHL career with the Kings in 1986, and would go on to become the highest scoring left-winger in the NHL; most of his years being spent in Los Angeles. On August 9, 1988, Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Kings from the Edmonton Oilers and during his eight years in Los Angeles, instantly impacted the Kings to heights they had never seen, both with their play on the ice and their popularity with fans off the ice. They made their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. Afterwards the Kings would again hit hard times, testing the loyalties of longtime fans with many disappointing seasons, only winning one playoff series between 1994 and 2011.

Finally, on May 22, 2012, the Kings beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4–3 in overtime in Phoenix to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993. On June 11, 2012, the Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 6–1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals to win the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup, becoming the first ever 8th seeded team in either NHL or NBA history to win a championship.

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src : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Kings