The1992–93Los Angeles Kings season was the team's26thseason in theNational Hockey League (NHL). It saw the Kings finish in third place in theSmythe Division with a record of 39 wins, 35 losses, and 10 ties for 88 points. The Kings played their home games at theGreat Western Forum.

In 1992–93, the Kings reached new levels of success, reaching theStanley Cup Finals for the first time in their history. They defeated theCalgary Flames in six games in the Division Semifinals before besting the regular-season division championVancouver Canucks in six games in the Division Finals. In the Campbell Conference Finals, the Kings triumphed over theToronto Maple Leafs in a hard-fought seven-game series, sending them to the1993 Stanley Cup Finals, where they met theMontreal Canadiens. The Kings took Game 1 of the Finals, but then lost four straight games as the Canadiens took the series 4–1 and won their 24thStanley Cup championship. The Kings finished with 93 playoff goals, the most playoff goals scored by a team that did not win the Stanley Cup and the 7th most overall by any team in the playoffs.^[1]

In the1992 NHL entry draft, the Kings choseJustin Hocking with their first pick, 39th overall, in the second round.

On Sunday, November 8, 1992, three Los Angeles Kings (Mike Donnelly, Jari Kurri and Luc Robitaille) scored a hat trick in an 11-4 win at San Jose.^[2]

The Kings were the most penalized team during the regular season, being shorthanded 529 times.^[3]

Los Angeles finished with 2,855 shots on goal during the regular season, second only to the Boston Bruins.^[4]

^[5]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

The Kings qualified for the1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs by virtue of their third-place finish in theSmythe Division. In the Smythe Division Semifinals, the third-seeded Kings met theCalgary Flames, who had finished second in the Smythe Division during the regular season. Although Los Angeles was missing its best defenceman,Rob Blake, for Game 1 and team captainWayne Gretzky suffered acharley horse and left midway through the contest, the Kings fired on all cylinders in a 6-3 win at theOlympic Saddledome. DefencemanDarryl Sydor scored on a pass from behind the net by Gretzky only 16 seconds into the game, andJimmy Carson netted two power play goals.^[6] However, Calgary stormed back in Game 2, with their ace defensive centreJoel Otto scoring twice, once at even-strength and once short-handed, as part of an unanswered five-goal outburst in the second period en route to a 9-4 Flames victory.^[7] The series shifted to California for Game 3, where undisciplined play by the Kings and two goals by the Flames'Theoren Fleury, one on the power play and one shorthanded, allowed Calgary to claim a 5-2 win.^[8][9]

In the Smythe Division Finals, the Kings' opponents were theVancouver Canucks, who had finished in first place in the Smythe Division during the regular season and upended the fourth-placeWinnipeg Jets in six games in the other Smythe Division Semifinal series. The Canucks, who had won seven of nine regular-season games against Los Angeles, continued their success with a 5-2 victory in Game 1, asDana Murzyn,Gerald Diduck, andDave Babych – three defencemen not known for their offensive prowess – all scored for Vancouver.^[10]

In the Campbell Conference Finals, the Kings faced theToronto Maple Leafs, who had finished in third place in theNorris Division during the regular season and defeated theDetroit Red Wings andSt. Louis Blues, both in seven games, in the Division Semifinals and Division Finals, respectively. The Maple Leafs had last won the Stanley Cup in1967 and had not even reached the Stanley Cup Finals since that year.^[11][12] Their 1993 Conference Finals appearance was the furthest the franchise had advanced in the playoffs since1978.^[13] There had been some animosity between the clubs heading into the series, as Toronto centreDoug Gilmour had been suspended for eight days for slashing and breaking the arm of the Kings'Tomas Sandström during a regular-season game on November 21.^[14]

The Maple Leafs opened the series with a 4-1 victory athome in Game 1, with Gilmour, the playoffs' leading scorer, recording two goals and two assists. However, the contest was marred by a hit on Gilmour by Kings defencemanMarty McSorley late in the game. Leaf captainWendel Clark immediately fought McSorley, while Toronto defencemanTodd Gill brawled with Los Angeles forwardDave Taylor. Leafs head coachPat Burns, who believed McSorley's hit on Gilmour was a deliberate attack ordered by the Los Angeles coaching staff, angrily confronted Kings head coachBarry Melrose, while Toronto fans threw debris on the ice.^[15] McSorley estimated that over 100 threats were called into his hotel room after the game.^[16] Sandström's goal off aWayne Gretzky pass with 7:40 remaining allowed Los Angeles to tie the series with a 3-2 win in Game 2 before the teams headed to the Great Western Forum for Games 3 and 4.^[17] The Kings took Game 3 by a 4-2 score aided by short-handed goals from Taylor andJari Kurri,^[18] but Toronto displayed a dominant defensive effort in Game 4, as goals byBob Rouse and rookieMike Eastwood in the first 6:30 sparked the Maple Leafs to a 4-2 win of their own to tie the series at 2-2.^[19] In Game 5,Glenn Anderson scored the winning goal in overtime off his own rebound to give Toronto a 3-2 victory, putting them one win away from their first Finals appearance in 26 years.^[20] In the aftermath of the game,Bob McKenzie, writing in theToronto Star, angered Gretzky by opining that the Kings' captain looked "as though he were skating with a piano on his back."^[21] Before Game 6 in Los Angeles, Gretzky told his agent,Mike Barnett, "The piano man still has a tune to play."^[22]

Game 6, a back-and-forth affair, would prove the most controversial of the series. Clark gave Toronto a 2-1 lead early in the second period, but the Kings went ahead 4-2 on three power play goals by McSorley,Darryl Sydor, andLuc Robitaille. The Leafs stormed back in the third period, with Clark scoring two more goals to complete ahat trick and tie the game at 4-4; the tying goal came with just 81 seconds left, sending the contest into overtime.^[23] With 13 seconds left in regulation, Anderson received a boarding penalty, allowing Los Angeles to begin overtime on a power play. During the overtime period, with the Kings in the Toronto end, Gretzky's stick caught Gilmour on the chin, drawing blood. Under the rules in place at the time, the play would have resulted in a five-minute major penalty. However, after consulting with linesmenRon Finn andKevin Collins, refereeKerry Fraser decided against penalizing Gretzky, reasoning he did not see the play. Gretzky scored the overtime winner off the very next faceoff, handing Los Angeles a 5-4 win and tying the series at three games apiece.^[24]

The winner of the deciding seventh game in Toronto would determine the Campbell Conference representative in the1993 Stanley Cup Finals. At 9:48 of the first period, Gretzky opened the scoring with a short-handed goal off a 2-on-1 rush with McSorley, then picked up an assist when Sandström scored off a Gretzky pass in the slot to give the Kings a 2-0 lead. The Maple Leafs tied the game in the second period on goals by Clark and Anderson, but just past the midway point of the period, Gretzky scored his second goal of the contest when he took a backhand pass from Sandström and, after Toronto defencemanKent Manderville went for the puck but missed, moved to the high slot and slapped the puck past Leaf goaltenderFelix Potvin for a 3-2 Los Angeles lead. The Maple Leafs clawed back to tie the game at 3-3 early in the third period on Clark's second goal of the night. However, with 3:51 left, the Kings'Alexei Zhitnik took a shot that Rouse partially blocked and redirected toMike Donnelly, who scored into an empty net to give Los Angeles a 4-3 advantage. Only 37 seconds later, Gretzky completed a hat trick and capped a four-point effort when, chased by Gill, he circled behind Potvin and banked the puck off the skate of Leafs defencemanDave Ellett and into the net; the goal, which Gretzky called a "fluke", gave the Kings a 5-3 lead. Though Ellett scored with 1:07 remaining to cut the Kings' lead to one goal, Los Angeles held on for a 5-4 victory and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in team history. Gretzky later called Game 7 the greatest game he had ever played.^[25][26][27]

The Kings' opponents in the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, theMontreal Canadiens, had finished third in thePrince of Wales Conference'sAdams Division during the regular season. They had defeated theirprovincial rivals, theQuebec Nordiques, in six games in the Division Semifinals and swept theBuffalo Sabres four straight in the Division Finals before besting theNew York Islanders in five games in the Wales Conference Finals. Prior to the series, Los Angeles coachBarry Melrose suggested that the Canadiens were a team that "hasn't been tested," although Montreal had lost the first two games of their first-round series to the Nordiques before rebounding to win 11 consecutive games, tying an NHL record.^[28]

Still, the Canadiens had had eight days off since eliminating the Islanders, and the Kings took advantage of their lethargy in a 4-1 victory in Game 1 at theMontreal Forum. Montreal nativeLuc Robitaille scored twice on the power play, andWayne Gretzky had a hand in all four Los Angeles goals, scoring one himself and assisting on the other three. The lone Canadiens goal came at 18:09 of the first period when Gretzkyscored on his own net trying to break up a pass by Montreal'sEd Ronan, who received credit for the goal.^[29]

The turning point in the series, however, came in Game 2. The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead on a first-period goal by defencemanÉric Desjardins, but the Kings tied the score in the second period on a short-handed goal fromDave Taylor, then went in front 2-1 whenPat Conacher scored with 11:28 left in the third period. During a stoppage in play with 1:45 remaining, Montreal head coachJacques Demers requested that refereeKerry Fraser measure the curve on the blade of Los Angeles defencemanMarty McSorley's stick. After measuring the curve, Fraser ruled McSorley's stick illegal and assessed him a minor penalty. Demers then pulled goaltenderPatrick Roy for anextra attacker, giving the Canadiens a 6-on-4 power play. Desjardins scored his second goal of the game off aVincent Damphousse pass with 1:13 left in regulation to tie the score at 2-2, sending the contest into overtime. Only 51 seconds into the extra period, Montreal'sBenoît Brunet picked up a missed Desjardins slap shot and passed it back to Desjardins, who fired another shot past Kings goaltenderKelly Hrudey to win the game for the Canadiens, 3-2, and tie the series at 1-1. Desjardins became the first defenceman to ever score ahat trick in the Stanley Cup Finals.^[30][31][32]

The series shifted to Los Angeles for the third and fourth games. By early in the second period of Game 3, the Canadiens had a 3-0 lead over the Kings, thanks to goals byBrian Bellows,Gilbert Dionne, andMathieu Schneider, the latter two goals coming 21 seconds apart. However, Los Angeles received an emotional lift from aMark Hardy hit onMike Keane, and the team responded with goals from Robitaille,Tony Granato, and Gretzky to tie the game at 3-3. With 12.9 seconds left before the game went into overtime, Kings coach Melrose argued for apenalty shot, saying that Montreal captainGuy Carbonneau closed his hand on the puck in thegoal crease, but refereeTerry Gregson ruled that the puck was caught in Carbonneau's equipment instead. Only 34 seconds into overtime,John LeClair buried the puck past Hrudey to give the Canadiens a 4-3 win and a 2-1 series lead.^[33][34] In the fourth game, Montreal took a 2-0 lead over the Kings on a first-periodKirk Muller goal and a power-play goal by Damphousse, but Los Angeles tied the score on a second-periodMike Donnelly goal off his own rebound and a power-play goal from McSorley, who took a pass from Gretzky from behind the net. The game again went to overtime, where LeClair scored his second consecutive sudden-death winner at 14:37 of the extra period for a 3-2 Canadiens victory and a 3-1 advantage in the series. It was the third straight overtime win for Montreal and their tenth consecutive overtime victory in the playoffs; Canadiens head coach Demers opined of the overtime winning streak that it was "possibly a record that will never be beaten."^[35]

The series went back to Montreal for Game 5, whichRed Fisher, the Canadiens' beat writer for theMontreal Gazette, called the team's best of the playoffs, as the Canadiens held the tiring and demoralized Kings to just 14 shots in the first two periods, and only 19 overall in the game. After Montreal took a 1-0 lead in the first period on aPaul DiPietro goal, McSorley tied the game at 2:40 of the second period by sending a wrist shot from the slot past Roy that richocheted off both goal posts. However, on the very next shift, the Canadiens regained the lead when Muller buried a loose puck past Hrudey following a failed wraparound attempt by Damphousse.Stéphan Lebeau added a power-play goal at 11:31 of the second period to give Montreal a 3-1 advantage, and DiPietro scored his second goal of the contest at 12:06 of the third period to put the game out of reach. The Canadiens held on for a 4-1 victory and clinched their 24th Stanley Cup championship with a 4-1 series win. Roy was named the winner of theConn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second time in his career.^[36][37][38]

† Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Kings. Stats reflect time with the Kings only.
‡ Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Kings only.

• Clarence S. Campbell Bowl
• Luc Robitaille, Left Wing, NHL First Team All-Star
• Luc Robitaille, Most Goals by a Left Wing in One Season (63)^[41]

The Kings were involved in the following transactions during the1992–93 season.^[42]

Los Angeles' draft picks at the1992 NHL entry draft held at theMontreal Forum inMontreal,Quebec.^[43]

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	39	Justin Hocking	D	Canada	Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
3	63	Sandy Allan	G	Canada	North Bay Centennials (OHL)
4	87	Kevin Brown	RW	Canada	Belleville Bulls (OHL)
5	111	Jeff Shevalier	LW	Canada	North Bay Centennials (OHL)
6	135	Rem Murray	RW	Canada	Michigan State University (CCHA)
9	207	Magnus Wernblom	RW	Sweden	Modo Hockey (Elitserien)
10	231	Ryan Pisiak	RW	Canada	Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)
11	255	Jukka Tiilikainen	LW	Finland	Kiekko-Espoo (Finland)

Notes

• The Kings first-round pick went to thePhiladelphia Flyers as the result of a trade on February 19, 1992 that sentKjell Samuelson,Rick Tocchet,Ken Wregget and a conditional third-round pick in1993 to Pittsburgh in exchange forMark Recchi,Brian Benning and this pick (15th overall).

Pittsburgh previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on February 19, 1992 that sentPaul Coffey to Los Angeles in exchange forJeff Chychrun,Brian Benning and this pick.

• The Kings seventh-round pick went to theNew York Islanders as the result of a trade on February 18, 1992 that sentSteve Weeks to Los Angeles in exchange for this pick (159th overall).
• The Kings eighth-round pick went to theDetroit Red Wings as the result of a trade on August 15, 1990 that sentShawn McCosh to Los Angeles in exchange for this pick (183rd overall).

• Kings on Hockey Database

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