Hockey

They are, without doubt, the dominant team of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

For now, at least, the Los Angeles Kings look unstoppable.

Their playoff pace has been spectacular: an 11-1 record, with seven straight road wins. L.A. could turn out to be the most dominant team in recent Stanley Cup memory.

Which would be a fine way to end the NHL's longest championship drought.

In actual fact, it's a tie between the Kings and St. Louis Blues. Both entered the NHL in 1967, and neither has ever lifted the grand old mug.

(The Toronto Maple Leafs last won it in '67. So that makes it a three-way tied for the longest dry spell. But at least Leafs fans have a long list of Stanley Cups to look back on.)

Here's the rest of the list:

The Longest Stanley Cup Droughts: A list of current NHL teams that have never won a Stanley Cup, and how long they've been trying.

See also:
The Stanley Cup History Page: Includes the complete list of champions, longest overtime games, unlikely heroes, MVPs, and more.

Photo: Like many before and since, Luc Robitaiile had to escape L.A. to win a Stanley Cup (Elsa Hasch/Allsport/Getty Images).

Shane Doan and the Phoenix Coyotes in the Stanley Cup Final?

Seemed an unlikely proposition a few weeks ago.

Until this season, the Coyotes and their captain had never won a playoff series, going 0-for-7 in the opening round since moving to Phoenix in 1996.

But the Coyotes and equally surprising L.A. Kings are the last teams alive in the Western Conference, so one of them will be in the championship series.

Here's the complete game schedule for the Conference Finals, with start times and network TV coverage listed.

Eastern Conference:
(1) New York Rangers vs. (6) New Jersey Devils
(series begins Monday)

Western Conference:
(3) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (8) Los Angeles Kings
(series begins Sunday)

You can check previous results at our Guide to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

See also:

• Stanley Cup History and Trivia
• Hockey for Beginners

Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

As the Stanley Cup seeks its new home for 2012, we've updated our image gallery dedicated to the culture of the greatest trophy in sport.

The Stanley Cup Photo Gallery offers a guided tour of the legends, customs, and unforgettable moments in the life of the world's greatest trophy.

Your tour includes:

• The Stanley Cup Rings
• The Classic Winner's Pose
• The False Idols
• The Immortal Etching
• Heroes of Yore

...and much more.

See also:

• Stanley Cup History and Facts
• A Guide to the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Photo: George Armstrong (L) awaits his turn while Andy Bathgate quaffs from the big mug following Toronto's championship in 1964. (Pictorial Parade/Getty Images).

He left the Blackhawks bewildered and beaten.

Now he's a big reason why the Phoenix Coyotes have Nashville on the ropes.

But Mike Smith won't crack our all-time list of Unlikely Stanley Cup Heroes. Not yet.

Though he began the season as a fringe player, Smith has had a spectacular year, and probably deserved a Vezina Trophy nomination.

To be a true unlikely hero, a guy has to emerge out of nowhere, play like a Hall of Famer for one brief, shining playoff season, and never approach such heights again.

Kind of like Chris Kontos (1989) or John Druce (1990).

If Mike Smith leads the Coyotes to the Stanley Cup Final, bringing them within grasp of the big fruit bowl, we'll reconsider his qualifications.

Until then, he's best classified as an ordinary goalie in the midst of a dream season.

The All-Time List of Unlikely Stanley Cup Heroes: The guys on this list would be remembered by almost nobody, if not for one very special spring.

(Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Here's the complete game schedule for the Conference Semifinals, with start times and network TV coverage listed.

Eastern Conference:
(1) New York Rangers vs. (7) Washington Capitals
(series begins Saturday)
(5) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (6) New Jersey Devils
(series begins Sunday)

Western Conference:
(2) St. Louis Blues vs. (8) Los Angeles Kings
(series begins Saturday)
(3) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (4) Nashville Predators
(series begins Friday)

You can check previous results on the 2012 Stanley Cup Round One page.

See also:

• A Guide to the Stanley Cup Playoffs
• Stanley Cup History and Trivia
• More Hockey for Beginners

(Photo: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

As with most sporting crowns, there's tremendous competition for the title of NHL's Most Hated Man.

This time last year it was Matt Cooke.

Before him it was Chris Simon, Chris Pronger, Steve Downie, Todd Bertuzzi...

It's a venerable list, stretching all the way back to Eddie Shore in the 1930s.

Raffi Torres of the Phoenix Coyotes is your new demon, the latest poster boy for Everything That's Wrong With The Game, thanks to last week's battering-ram act on Chicago's Marian Hossa.

His 25-game suspension launches him into the Top 5 on the list of the Longest Suspensions in NHL History.

Torres is the perfect villain.

He's a fiery, not-especially-likeable redhead with a poor track record in the NHL's court of law.

And he's no all star, making him the easiest of targets.

You'll find plenty who believe the Torres incident was no worse than recent maulings by Duncan Keith or Shea Weber.

But Keith and Weber are stars. So, you know.

NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan had little incentive to show Torres any mercy:

"Torres launched himself to deliver a late, direct hit to the head ...it is clear (Torres) sees that Hossa is no longer in possession of the puck because Torres takes a one-handed swipe at it with his stick."

Congratulations, Raffi. The title is yours to hold. But not for long.

The Longest NHL Suspension Ever
As this list shows, hockey history includes several incidents that were likely just as bad as Torres' hit on Marian Hossa.

Photo: A Coyotes fan displays a Raffi Torres sign during Saturday's game between Phoenix and Chicago. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

When hockey's chattering classes got down to making playoff predictions last week, a Penguins-Canucks Stanley Cup Final was a very popular pick.

But having bumbled through the first week with three losses each, Pittsburgh and Vancouver look like round-one cannon fodder.

History indicates that the chances of a comeback by either team are slim. No surprise there.

But if fans are looking for a sliver of hope, they might note that the big comeback is a little more common that it used to be.

Last year, the San Jose Sharks pulled off one of the biggest single-game comebacks in Stanley Cup history.

Falling behind 4-0 early in the second period, the Sharks storming back for a 6-5 overtime win in Los Angeles, and went on to win their first-round series.

It was just the fourth time a team had won a playoff game after trailing by four or more goals. Before that it hadn't happened since 1985.

Also last season, the Chicago Blackhawks came very close to a spectacular recovery.

After losing the first three games of their opening-round series to Vancouver, Chicago won three in a row and took game seven to overtime before finally succumbing.

All this came less than a year after Philadelphia's historic comeback against Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Flyers made it all the way back after falling into an 0-3 hole. That's happened just three times in the long history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Is it a coincidence that such unlikely events came in back-to-back years? Probably.

But if we see a similar comeback by the Penguins or Canucks, we might start wondering whether the NHL's current era of salary-cap parity has something to do with it.

The Greatest Comebacks in Stanley Cup History: The list includes both single-game and best-of-seven comebacks.

• 2012 Stanley Cup Schedule and Results
• Stanley Cup History and Facts
• A Guide to the Stanley Cup Playoffs

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images).

If you're relatively new to the NHL, you might be wondering what the Florida Panthers are doing in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference.

94 points is a respectable total, good enough to earn Florida a playoff spot.

But how come they're ahead of Pittsburgh (108 points), Philadelphia (103), and New Jersey (102) in the final standings?

And why do the Panthers have home-ice advantage in their opening round series against the Devils?

It's the same story in the Western Conference, where the Phoenix Coyotes rank ahead of better teams in Nashville, Detroit, and Chicago.

Teams spent the last six months slugging it out in regular season games. That's over 1,200 hours of hockey.

Shouldn't the Stanley Cup Playoffs be designed to reward those who performed best?

Not always, according to the NHL's way of thinking.

We've got a couple of tools to help you understand the eccentric playoff system.

Watch the Hockey Playoffs 101 video, or consult our article on the Stanley Cup format.

See also:

• Round One of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs: The game schedule with TV listings included.
• A Guide to the Stanley Cup Playoffs
• Stanley Cup History and Trivia
• More Hockey for Beginners

Photo: Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images

Here's the complete schedule for the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with network TV listings included.

Games begin Wednesday, and these are the opening round match-ups:

Eastern Conference

• (1) New York Rangers vs. (8) Ottawa Senators
• (2) Boston Bruins vs. (7) Washington Capitals
• (3) Florida Panthers vs. (6) New Jersey Devils
• (4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) Philadelphia Flyers

Western Conference

• (1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (8) Los Angeles Kings
• (2) St. Louis Blues vs. (7) San Jose Sharks
• (3) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (6) Chicago Blackhawks
• (4)Nashville Predators vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings

Photo: Can the Flyers and Penguins live up to the hype? (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Nashville Predators will tell anyone who asks that they have every intention of signing a new contract with thoroughbred defenseman Ryan Suter, and complete confidence that it will happen.

Suter himself isn't saying much.

If his name isn't on the dotted line by July 1, Suter ranks as the fattest catch in this year's free agent market.

At 27 years old, he's entering his prime as an all-around defensive force. No commodity in hockey is more highly valued.

Even with an uncertain summer ahead, thanks to an expiring collective bargaining agreement, an available Ryan Suter would surely set off a bidding war for the ages.

Here's a look at the defensemen scheduled to become unrestricted free agents if they don't re-sign with their current teams in the next three months.

See also:

• 2012 NHL Free Agent Forwards: Centermen and wingers scheduled to become unrestricted NHL free agents on July 1.
• NHL Free Agent Center: Here's your guide to NHL free agents, the rules of the market, and the NHL salary cap.

(Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)