Kings Game 6 win was a rare blowout in Cup clinching game

For five games the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils played an incredibly tight series with the two teams rarely being separated by more than one goal on the scoreboard.

The Kings Cup-clinching win in Game 6? Well, that was a complete beatdown from the beginning.

Their 6-1 win was not only out of line from the rest of the series, it was a bit out of the ordinary when it comes to cup-clinching wins for any team.

Going back as far as the 1967 season, when the NHL expanded beyond the original six days, only five teams have won a Cup clinching game by four or more goals, and the Kings five-goal margin on Monday night is tied for the second largest.

The other notable blowouts:

• The 1991 Penguins won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history with an 8-0 win over the  Minnesota North Stars in Game 6.
• The 1985 Oilers beat the Philadelphia Flyers by five goals (8-3)
• The 1981 New York Islanders beat the North Stars by four goals (5-1)
• The 2006 Ducks ended their first championship run with a 6-2 win over the Ottawa Senators.
• And last year the Boston Bruins ended their lengthy Stanley Cup drought with a four-goal win (4-0) over the Vancouver Canucks.

Even though they came into Game 6 having lost consecutive games the Kings were pleased with the way they played in Games 4 and 5, and felt confident that if they could repeat that performance their luck would change a bit. And it did.

Right off the opening faceoff the Kings controlled the play and never let up, finishing the night attempting over 60 percent of the shots.

Of course, it also helped that the Kings spent a large portion of the night on the power play, including a key five-minute stretch in the first period following Steve Bernier's boarding penalty on Rob Scuderi resulting in the first three Kings goals of the game.

From that point on there was little doubt as to the outcome of the game, making it a pretty anticlimactic finish to a series that was always one or two bounces from going in a completely different direction.