NEWARK, NJ -- It wasn't exactly the most exciting day you'll ever encounter at the Stanley Cup Final. Actually, the most interesting nugget to come out of Pete DeBoer's press conference on Friday was a discussion about, of all things, challenging illegal sticks.

Yes. It's come to this. This is what happens when we have two days off between games.

I imagine it only came up because the last time the Los Angeles Kings were in the Stanley Cup Final (19 years ago) an illegal stick used by Marty McSorley had a pretty big impact in the early part of the series.

A quick refresher, in case you've forgotten (and you probably haven't, if you're a long-time Kings or Montreal Canadiens fan)...



The Canadiens tied the game on the ensuing power play, won in overtime, and then never lost another game in the series. It was a huge moment. Had the Kings held on to win that game they would have had a 2-0 lead in the series and who knows how the rest of it would have played out.

On Friday, DeBoer was asked about the last time he actually challenged a stick, why he did it (he had inside information) and why he isn't likely to do it again.

"I actually do remember it," said DeBoer. "Mike Richards would remember it, he was my captain in Kitchener.

"We had Corey Perry, who plays in Anaheim. We had all been together with the World Junior team. I had found, probably a little unethically by coaching him, that his stick was illegal at Christmas. We played London in the playoffs. I had Richy call Corey for an illegal stick. We actually got it. Didn’t score in the five-on-three. I think London scored shorthanded and we lost the series. It backfired. Yeah, it’s a funny story."

Hilarious.

But don't expect him to try it again anytime soon. Not only because it didn't work the last time he did it, but also because you almost never see it actually work.

"You know what, they changed the rule to make the bigger curves more legal since then," said DeBoer. "You know, you have to have a boomerang basically now in order to be called for that. So it’s not even an option."

The most recent illegal stick penalty that I can actually recall taking place was back in 2009 when Toronto managed to catch Jason Spezza using an illegal stick in a late-season game.

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