2012 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2012 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2011–12 season, and the culmination of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference playoff champion Los Angeles Kings defeated the Eastern Conference playoff champion New Jersey Devils four games to two, capturing the first Stanley Cup title in the team's 45-year history, dealing the Devils just their second Stanley Cup Finals defeat in five tries and first since 2001. Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
| 2012 Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * – Denotes overtime period(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Los Angeles: Staples Center (3, 4, 6) Newark: Prudential Center (1, 2, 5) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Los Angeles: Darryl Sutter New Jersey: Peter DeBoer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Los Angeles: Dustin Brown New Jersey: Zach Parise | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National anthems | Los Angeles: Pia Toscano New Jersey: Arlette Roxburgh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referees | Dan O'Halloran (1, 3, 5) Dan O'Rourke (2, 4, 6) Chris Rooney (2, 4, 6) Brad Watson (1, 3, 5) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | May 30 – June 11, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Jonathan Quick (Kings) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Jeff Carter (12:45, first, G6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Devils: Martin Brodeur (2018) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | Canada: (English): CBC (French): RDS United States: (English): NBC (1–2, 5–6), NBCSN (3–4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | (CBC) Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, and Glenn Healy (RDS) Pierre Houde and Marc Denis (NBC/NBCSN) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire (NHL International) Dave Strader and Joe Micheletti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Los Angeles Kings made their second appearance in the Finals in franchise history, they lost in their previous appearance to the Montreal Canadiens in five games in 1993. The New Jersey Devils last appeared in 2003, when they defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup title. It was the first championship series since 2007 whose Stanley Cup-clinching game was played on the winning team's home ice.
The Eastern Conference winner had home ice advantage for the first time since 2006, since the Devils had a better regular season record than the Kings. The Devils were the lowest-seeded team to have home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals, a record previously held by the Devils when they won the Cup as a fourth seed in 2000. With the Devils entering the playoffs as the ninth seed of the sixteen playoff teams by regular season record (no division titles) and the Kings as the thirteenth, their combined seed of twenty-two was the second highest of any playoff matchup (only trailing the 1991 Cup Finals with twenty-three), and it was the first playoff matchup with no team seeded better than ninth. The Kings became the first, as well as the last eighth-seeded team to win the Stanley Cup since the conference-based seedings were introduced in 1994.