Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick raises his arms after the Kings scored an empty-net goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series, Sunday, May 6, 2012, in Los Angeles. The Kings won 3-1 to win the series 4-0. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles • Dustin Brown scored two goals, Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings finished an improbable four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 3-1 victory Sunday, advancing to the conference finals for just the second time in club history.
Rookie Jordan Nolan scored an early goal for the Kings, the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate their conference’s top two seeds in the same postseason.
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At a glance
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Schedule
Monday
Washington at N.Y. Rangers, 5:30 p.m., NBCSN
Series tied 2-2
Nashville at Phoenix, 8 p.m., NBCSN
Phoenix leads series 3-1
After steamrolling top-seeded Vancouver and second-seeded St. Louis with eight wins in nine games, the Kings will face the winner of Phoenix’s series with Nashville in the Western Conference finals.
Los Angeles won despite its weakest effort of the postseason, clinging to its 2-1 first-period lead through 40 minutes dominated by St. Louis. The Kings didn’t adapt well to an unusually early start time, yet Quick made a handful of stellar saves before Brown scored his sixth goal of a stellar postseason into an empty net with 25.8 seconds left.
"It’s a special group, and we knew that all along this season," said Anze Kopitar, who had assists on both of Brown’s goals and tackled the Los Angeles captain after his empty-netter.
"Maybe we didn’t break out when we would have liked to, but I think we’ve peaked at the right time, and that’s the most important thing."
New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 2 • Dainius Zubrus scored two goals and the New Jersey Devils rallied from an early two-goal deficit and pushed the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink of elimination with a 4-2 victory Sunday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal in Newark, N.J.
Zubrus put New Jersey ahead 3-2 late in the second period and iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Petr Sykora and Marek Zidlicky also scored for the Devils, who can advance to their first conference final since 2003 with a win in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. New Jersey has never lost a playoff series after taking a 3-1 lead.
In winning their third straight, the Devils let goalie Martin Brodeur have an easy night on his 40th birthday, outshooting Philadelphia 43-22. He even picked up an assist on Zubrus’ final goal.
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