When the puck drops Wednesday night on the first game of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals between the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils, both teams will look to do everything in their power to take control of the best-of-seven series.

However, while the result of Wednesday night's game at the Prudential Center in Newark will certainly give one team an advantage in the series and bring that team one game closer to the most celebrated trophy in sports, it's highly questionable just how much of an indicator Wednesday's game will be when it comes to the rest of the series.

After all, if the Kings win on Wednesday night, it will be a matter of business as usual to one degree or another. Los Angeles has steamrolled to the finals by winning all eight of its games on the road, losing just two games, both at the Staples Center, on its march to the team's first final since 1993. The Devils, meanwhile, did beat the Florida Panthers to open the playoffs and take a 1-0 lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, but lost their series openers against both the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers before rallying to beat the Flyers in five games and the Rangers in six. For the Kings, a win would be business as usual. For the Devils, while a Game 1 loss would certainly be less than desirable, it could be framed as just one more hurdle to overcome on the path to what Pete DeBoer's team hopes will be the franchise's fourth Stanley Cup.

On the other hand, of course, a Devils win could be monumental. Should New Jersey get the victory on Wednesday night, they would deliver a huge blow to the Kings' "road warrior" status, stopping the team's considerable momentum. And, while the Devils have been able to overcome early deficits in each of the first two rounds, it's not a strategy, and they'd love to get an early upper hand over the Kings, who have easily been the hottest team in hockey since the end of the regular season.

History says that the team winning Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals goes on to hoist the Cup 76.4 percent of the time. Of course, that number was 77.5 percent a year ago, before the Boston Bruins rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to beat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.  When it's all said and done, the result of Wednesday night's game could be one step towards that number becoming 75.3 percent.

Or it could be one step towards history.