Wings Sweep Kings

Los Angeles
Kings

"Everyone looks at a four-game series and they look at it as if it was a blowout or something like that," Red Wings right wing Darren McCarty said. "This was a battle, each shift, game in and game out."

Special teams were the key to the series. Los Angeles went 0-for-23 on the power play in the series, including 0-for-7 Wednesday, against a Detroit penalty-killing unit that tied for first in the NHL this season.

"When you look at the series, the difference was our penalty killing against their power play and our power play was very productive," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "In the third period, they threw everything at us. The Kings are a pretty aggressive team. They're not easy to play against and they take a lot out of you."

Los Angeles has lost 12 straight playoff games, the last win coming in Game 1 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals against Montreal.

"We know what we did wrong," Kings center Ian Laperriere said. "They were smarter than we were. They didn't let their tempers get away from them. We retaliated and they didn't, so the penalties led to power plays and that's what beats you."