A little over a year ago, Rob Scuderi got his face boarded into the glass at Staples Center by Steve Bernier of the New Jersey Devils in the first period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Bernier received a five minute major penalty. What that means to you non-hockey people, is the Kings had a one-man advantage for five minutes. But unlike a normal power play, when once you score, the power play is over and the penalty ends, on a major power play the penalty doesn't end when you score. It goes the whole five minutes. You have a man-advantage for five whole minutes. And you can score as many times as you're able during that power play.
The Kings scored three goals in that five minutes, putting them up 3-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals with a series lead of 3-2 games. The Devils were deflated. And the Kings and crowd at Staples Center were not only able to breathe a bit, but were totally fired up on their way to a joyous celebration 50 minutes of play later :)
Today, Scuderi -- as an unrestricted free-agent -- left the Kings for a better deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He's the first significantly contributing member of the 2012 Championship team to leave the Kings.
Scuderi (aka Scuds) was one of our veteran, reliable, stay-at-home, help-the-newbie-D's-get-their-footing defensemen. And for that, he will be missed.
But he will always be remembered for sacrificing his face (and coming back to finish the game!) the night the LA Kings won their Stanley Cup! And I wish him well.
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