After the first two games of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, it could be said that while the Los Angeles Kings held a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series, nothing had been decided yet. After all, the Kings' 2-0 advantage was built on a pair of overtime victories, in which the Kings made one more play when it mattered the most, and Jonathan Quick outdueled Martin Brodeur. A couple of bounces of the puck the other way, and the Devils could have been up 2-0 going into Monday night's Game 3 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
When the puck dropped on Monday, though, those arguments evaporated, as Jonathan Quick stopped all 22 shots he saw, Los Angeles got four goals from four different players, and the Kings moved within one win of a Stanley Cup with a 4-0 win over the Devils. Given that only one team in NHL history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the most celebrated trophy in sports - that would be the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs - it's fair to say that at some point in the coming days, Dustin Brown will skate around the ice, holding the Stanley Cup over his head.
The question now is whether that will happen in Los Angeles or New Jersey.
Given the way that the Kings have steamrolled their opposition throughout the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, including the three conference champions they beat to reach the finals and the first three games against the Devils, it's fairly likely that the Kings will clinch the Cup either Wednesday night in Los Angeles or Saturday night in New Jersey. The Kings clinched two of their three series victories this spring on the road, sandwiching a sweep of the Blues between five-game wins over the Canucks and Coyotes.
While it's all well and good to clinch an early-round playoff series on the road, the Stanley Cup is a different story, particularly in a city where it's never been won. With the Kings poised for a moment 45 years in the making, it's even possible that the Staples Center crowd would opt to neglect the "traditional" booing of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that often detracts from the celebration. That's not likely to be the case in New Jersey, where frustration will likely reign if Devils fans have to watch the Kings skate with the Cup at the Prudential Center.
Of course, the Kings will take a Stanley Cup wherever they can clinch it, be it in Los Angeles or in Newark. However, as they stand one win away from history, expect Brown, Quick and company to be at their best on Wednesday night when they look to finish the job, so that they can celebrate it in front of their fans.