Shane Doan gets a major and tossed in Game 2, Kings at Coyotes. 5/15/12

Jeff Carter scores a hat trick in Game 2 against Phoenix.

The NHL’s playoff road warriors are heading home with a commanding lead in the Western Conference Finals.

The Los Angeles Kings tied three NHL records — and more importantly got themselves halfway to the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-0 win Tuesday in Game 2 at Jobing.com Arena. The Kings lead the series 2-0 with Game 3 set for Thursday at Staples Center in Los Angeles (9 p.m. ET; NBC, TSN, RDS).

Jeff Carter, who had only one goal in the previous 10 playoff games, became the first Kings player since Wayne Gretzky in 1993 to score a hat trick in a playoff game. Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for his second shutout of the postseason and Los Angeles ran its streak of successful penalty kills to 28 with four more.

“We really want it right now,” forward Dustin Pennertold NHL.com. “We want the first goal. We want the next goal. It’s that intensity and that passion that drives us. It’s that good type of fear that stops you from letting games get away from you and continues to push you forward. We use that fear of losing to motivate us as opposed to shrinking to it.”

The Kings have gotten bigger and better away from Southern California.

They have won seven straight road games in these playoffs, tying a record last matched by the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks. Their 7-0 road record to start the playoffs ties a record set by the 1999 Colorado Avalanche. They’ve won nine straight on the road dating back to last spring. That ties the record for most road wins spanning consecutive postseasons, previously done by the Islanders in 1982 and 1983.

The 2010 Blackhawks, 1982 Islanders and 1983 Islanders have the same thing in common — they all won the Stanley Cup. The 2012 Kings are two wins away from giving themselves the opportunity to play for the Stanley Cup against either the New Jersey Devils or New York Rangers.

“We try to get away from all that outside jargon, whatever you want to call it,” Penner said. “It doesn’t matter where we are, what the temperature is outside, we just go out there and play the game the way we’re supposed to play, within the system. The outcome will take care of itself.”

The Coyotes had to play the final 23:31 without captain Shane Doan and the last 8:59 without centerMartin Hanzal. Both were given five-minute majors for boarding and game misconducts.

Doan was tossed 16:29 into the second after crunching Trevor Lewis into the boards near the right corner, leading to a 5-on-3 goal for the Kings. Hanzal was sent off at 11:01 of the third period after hitting Kings captain Dustin Brown between the numbers roughly three feet from the end boards in the defensive zone. Brown stayed down for a few moments, but he stayed in the game after getting some assistance on his way to the bench during the TV timeout.

The Coyotes were called for 13 penalties totaling 56 minutes. Carter scored two of his three goals when the Kings were skating with a 5-on-3 advantage.

“I think you have to give them credit, how they’re playing,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said of the Kings. “I certainly think that we can show better than we are right now. I liked the first period, first part of the second period. We’ve got to find a way to sustain that, obviously keeps some pucks out of our net, be more disciplined, capitalize on a chance or two; at least give ourselves a chance where we feel like we’re competitive in the game.”

The Kings jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Dwight King‘s third goal of the series and fourth of the playoffs 13:15 into the first period. Phoenix had several quality chances to tie the game within the first four minutes of the second period, but Quick came up with seven saves to preserve the 1-0 lead that ballooned to 2-0 when Carter scored the first of his three goals at 4:47.

Getting the two-goal lead was something the Kings could not do in Game 1. That’s how the Coyotes, despite being badly outplayed and outshot, were able to keep the game tied going into the third period.

They couldn’t come close to doing that in Game 2.

“It was huge, especially because we didn’t have the best start,” Kings center Anze Kopitar said of Carter’s goal to make it 2-0. “We were up in shots, but we were in and out of their zone the whole time. Quickie held us in it again and we were able to get our legs underneath us and push through. Getting the second goal and obviously getting the PP goal was huge for us to get more insurance. After that we brought it home safe.”

Carter extended the lead to 3-0 when he deflected Kopitar’s shot from the right circle past Mike Smithduring a 5-on-3 after Doan’s boarding incident on Lewis. Keith Yandle was already in the penalty box for roughing and Daymond Langkow went off at the same time as Doan for slashing Brown.

“Penalties took the game away from us,” Tippett said.

Penner was the difference in the Kings taking a 2-0 lead. He used his big body to create a scoring chance for Carter.

Penner beat both Yandle and Doan to the puck at the end boards. He shielded Doan, allowing Mike Richards to take the puck and bring it into the corner. Penner got it back with his back to the right post, tipped a pass to Carter, who beat Antoine Vermette in and got just enough on the shot to send it underneath Smith’s glove.

Tippett spoke about the need to win more puck battles after Game 1, but on that goal three of his players — Yandle, Doan and Vermette — all got beat.

“We got outcompeted again, outbattled,” said Smith, who made 36 saves. “In the first period we played a little better and competed a little harder, but it’s not enough.

“There’s no need to hit the panic button, but we do need to play better.”

It’ll help if they can avoid the penalty box, avoid the frustration that was so obvious Tuesday night.

“We have to keep going. We have to keep finishing our checks,” Brown said. “When you have everyone, whether it’s your best players or your role players, finishing checks, doing everything they can to get in the way, it can get frustrating (for the other team). The intensity is high, and at this stage of the playoffs it’s important to understand that if they are frustrated we have to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Martin Brodeur makes a spectacular diving glove save on an open-net chance for Marc Staal.

Henrik Lundqvist needed three seconds to leave his mark on Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. He left the rest of the series-opening victory to his stable of capable defensemen.

The Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist needed to make just 21 saves for his second shutout of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but made three consecutive stops on Devils captain Zach Parise with the game still scoreless in the second period to allow the New York Rangers a chance to take over in the third period and emerge with a 3-0 victory.

The Rangers were on a power play with 5:55 remaining in the second period when Parise busted through to release three dangerous shots in three seconds, all of which were turned aside by a scrambling, yet steady Lundqvist.

After escaping the second period 0-0, defenseman Dan Girardi scored the winner 53 seconds into the third period to put the Rangers ahead for good, but it was Lundqvist’s heroics with his team under siege in the second period that set the stage for the win.

“Yeah, as a goalie you always have to step up when your team needs you, not when you feel good and have your moments,” Lundqvist said. “A lot of times, it’s when the team’s struggling that you have to step up. It’s fun, too, to be there and make a difference when your team is going through a tough stretch.”

The Rangers were playing their 15th game of the postseason after winning in seven games in each of the first two rounds, while the Devils were coming off a five-day break after eliminating the Philadelphia Flyers in five games. Despite the disparity, Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh appeared to have to the freshest legs of anyone on the ice in the first period.

About seven minutes into the game, Parise escaped through the neutral zone for a clear-cut breakaway opportunity. McDonagh, who played 24:27 and blocked three shots, unveiled his speed to track down Parise and knock the puck away before a shot could be released.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, McDonagh repeated the feat about four minutes when Devils sniperIlya Kovalchuk found himself with a 1-on-1 chance against Lundqvist. McDonagh couldn’t deny the shot altogether this time, but he steered Kovalchuk into a backhand attempt that was far less dangerous than it could’ve been.

“You don’t want to cut in and let him get to that forehand,” McDonagh said. “I see Hankie coming out pretty far there and I’m just trying to make sure he stays to the outside. I didn’t think I could get my stick right onto the puck, so I just tried to make sure he couldn’t get to his forehand.”

“He’s such a good skater, and looked like he was pretty far behind but he would catch up pretty fast and made a great play,” Lundqvist said. “And because he’s such a great skater, he can be aggressive in his game. And it means a lot to the forwards, he can join the rush, but he also he’s really quick to recover if something happens.”

One of the few gaffes made by a Rangers blueliner happened in the second period when Girardi tried to make an outlet pass that deflected off Devils rookie Adam Henrique and resulted in a chaotic scene around Lundqvist’s net. It didn’t take long for Girardi to redeem himself with his second goal of the playoffs early in the third period.

Rangers rookie Chris Kreider, who added an insurance goal later in the period, pushed back the Devils defense with his speed as he crossed the blue line. Girardi joined the play from the bench and unleashed one-time blast from the blue line that eluded Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur to make it 1-0. Brodeur couldn’t track the puck with Rangers forward Derek Stepan parked at the top of his crease.

The goal changed the tenor of the game and gave the Rangers a lift over the final 20 minutes after they were outplayed during the first 40 minutes.

“It wasn’t our best two periods,” Girardi said. “We had to just go hard, play our style of game and work hard on the forecheck and it worked out for us. I saw (Kreider) coming up the wall there and I was delaying to see what he was going to do. I saw no one got to the point and I kind of stepped into it and got it through.”

Less than two minutes later, Lundqvist made a difficult save off a one-time try by Kovalchuk from the left side. Lundqvist pushed across and not only made the save, but left no rebound for an opportunistic Devil to jam home.

Kreider would put the game away with eight minutes left in the period, finishing a pretty passing sequence involving Artem Anisimov, who salted the win away late with an empty-net goal, and Girardi in the neutral zone. Kreider scored his third goal of the playoffs by snapping a quick shot past the glove side of Brodeur to make it 2-0.

Lundqvist was called upon to make four saves in the third period, but he stayed focused and once again gave his teammates time to score a big goal.

“They had some good chances where Hank had to make some big saves — again,” said defenseman Marc Staal, who had five of the Rangers’ 26 blocked shots in 24:55 of ice time. “At times in the third he wasn’t busy, but he’s always so mentally sharp and he stays with it and makes those key stops.”

The Rangers also forced another 15 shots to miss the net.

“It wasn’t anything we weren’t prepared for, we knew it was coming,” Parise said of the Rangers’ shot-blocking skills. “We just have to do a better job of getting the point shots through and get it past the first guy.”

That’s just part one of the plan. Part two is getting those pucks past Lundqvist, who leads all playoff goaltenders with a 1.57 goals-against average.

“We want to play well in front of him,” Rangers forward Brian Boyle said. “He bails us out. It’s huge. You think about the end of the game when you don’t want to have to put him in situations like that. We know what we have in him, and he’s been huge for us all year long.”

Per NHL.com:

Washington Capitals General Manager George McPhee said Monday that Dale Hunter has decided not to return to the Washington Capitals as coach.

Hunter, who replaced Bruce Boudreau on Nov. 28, signed a deal only for the remainder of the 2011-12 season, which ended for the Capitals when they lost to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Saturday.

Hunter went 30-23-7 with the Caps, guiding them to seventh in the Eastern Conference, but the team seemed to improve as the postseason wore on, with the Capitals embracing Hunter’s defense-first system. They beat the second-seeded and defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round and pushed the top-seeded New York Rangers to the brink in the second round.

Even a week off couldn’t cool the red-hot Los Angeles Kings. They’re three wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.

The Kings came out strong with a relentless forecheck that continued throughout the game. They fired 48 shots on net and got goals from Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and two from Dwight King along with 25 saves from goalie Jonathan Quick to beat the Phoenix Coyotesin Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, 4-2, at Jobing.com Arena on Sunday night.

Los Angeles is now 9-1 in the playoffs and has won six games in a row on the road. The Kings will go for No. 7 in Game 2 Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS).

“You know the Coyotes have won both games at home prior series, right?” Kings coach Darryl Sutter asked rhetorically, citing that the Coyotes were victories in Game 1 against Chicago and again against Nashville at Jobing.com Arena. “It was really important we had a good start.  It wasn’t so much scoring or any of that stuff.  Just make sure we match their start.

“We were able to overcome a rare bad goal against us, have the resiliency to stay with it.”

Sutter is correct, the Kings did have to rebound after Quick was beat on a 98-foot slap shot by Derek Morris 13:26 into the first period. Morris wound up and fired from directly in front of the red line and the puck skimmed off the ice and sailed over Quick’s outstretched right pad to tie the game at 1-1.

Los Angeles had a 17-4 advantage in shots on goal after 20 minutes, but the game was locked in a tie.

“It skipped off the ice, took a weird hop, and nothing you can do about it,” Quick said. “You just reset and get ready for the next shot, that’s all it is.”

Quick’s teammates knew it was a tough one for their goalie to give up, but it only made them want to play that much harder for him.

“I think we just felt we have to get a couple for Quickie,” Kopitar said. “He was bailing us out all season and a few times in the playoffs, too. I don’t think anybody was concerned or worried about it; we just kind of looked at each other and said maybe we should win this one for him.”

They did, thanks to their captain. Brown gave the Kings their 3-2 lead with 17:49 left in the third period.

Brown, who now has seven goals in 10 playoff games, was sprung on a semi-breakaway by defensemanSlava Voynov. He made a fantastic pass from out of the defensive zone to catch Brown in the neutral zone. He skated into the right circle and put a wrist shot past Mike Smith on the blocker side.

“That was a great pass by Slava,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “I think everyone knows he has that vision offensively to do those kinds of things. Right away he saw Brownie before he even got the puck, and from there he made a great pass and Brownie finished it off from there.”

Sutter said Brown has become a playoff hockey player in this postseason. He also had an assist on Kopitar’s goal 3:53 into the first period and now has 13 points in the playoffs.

“He’d like to have the penalty back in the first period,” Sutter said, referring to Brown’s interference minor behind the play with 18.3 seconds left in the first period. “He certainly covered his butt good by scoring the game-winner.”

The Kings dominated most of the night with a constant, aggressive forecheck that had the Coyotes hemmed in their own zone. They also continued to play with perfection on the penalty kill, which was 5-for-5 and allowed only four shots on goal. Los Angeles has killed off 24 straight power plays dating back to Game 5 against Vancouver.

“We weren’t close in that game,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “We got beat in every facet of the game.

“I felt our execution was so poor. The execution and will to get things done is going to have to improve greatly if we’re going to have a chance in this series.”

About the only player Tippett couldn’t be angry with was Smith, who never let the Kings take a two-goal lead before Kings’ empty-net goal with 48 seconds left. He made 44 saves.

The Kings beat Smith on a backhanded shot by Kopitar from the high slot in the first period, a King shot off a rebound created on a 2-on-1 rush with Mike Richards in the second, and on Brown’s wrist shot from the right circle off a semi-breakaway in the third.

“He’s not going to save every one, eventually a few will get by him and that’s what happened tonight,” Doughty said. “It just shows you the more shots you get on net the more he’s going to let in.”

Phoenix has been outshot in 10 of its 12 playoff games and has given up 45 or more shots three times. It is 1-2 in those games.

“As the playoffs go on, the bar gets higher and higher,” Tippett said. “You have some players that can rise with the bar and we didn’t have enough guys rise with the bar tonight.”

However, despite getting outshot 34-18 through two periods, the Coyotes still managed to head into the dressing room tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. Morris’ blast from the red line beat Quick in the first period andMikkel Boedker cashed in on his fourth goal of the playoffs with 1:55 left in the second period as the Coyotes came back from a pair of one-goal deficits in each period.

“We started to generate some stuff in the second period a little better,” Coyotes center Antoine Vermette said.

Los Angeles, though, was relentless again in the third and got some big saves from Quick late to preserve the one-goal lead before King’s empty-netter.

“Right before the game Darryl made sure to tell us the first five minutes are so important, we need to be the fastest team, the hardest working team, we want them not to want to play us,” Doughty said. “I thought we did a good job of that.”

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals shifted from a surefire party to a potential nightmare for the New York Rangers midway through the third period.

Brad Richards scored the game’s opening goal early in the first period, and what followed was about 50 minutes of high tension as the Rangers tried to protect the one-goal lead against the hard-charging Washington Capitals. When defenseman Michael Del Zotto extended the lead to two goals midway through the third period, the celebration was under way in the stands at Madison Square Garden.

But Roman Hamrlik‘s fluttering shot eluded goaltenderHenrik Lundqvist just 38 seconds later, and a penalty to Rangers forward Ruslan Fedotenko 36 seconds after that had the Capitals buzzing and the sellout crowd decidedly nervous.

However, as the Rangers have done throughout this season, they stiffened when facing adversity and punched their ticket to their first Eastern Conference Final since 1997. The Capitals generated no shots on the power play and two shots overall in the final 9:17 as the top-seeded Rangers survived for a 2-1 victory, their second win in a Game 7 this postseason.

“It’s a great feeling to see we stayed focused whatever happens,” said Lundqvist, who made 22 saves, 11 in the second period, to reach the conference finals for the first time in his career. “Yeah, we give up a goal and they get on the power play but we know what we have to do. We’ve been in this situation so many times this year and I think it helped us a lot today and moving forward as well.”

The Rangers’ reward for their victory is a Monday night visit from the rival New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of the conference final. The two teams met in the third round in 1994, with the Rangers winning the series in seven games before capturing their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.

The tone for Saturday’s game was set in the first period by the top line of Carl Hagelin, Richards andMarian Gaborik, who combined for 10 shots, a goal, three assists with each finishing at plus-2.

Richards put the Rangers ahead 1-0 at 1:32 of the first period with his sixth goal of the postseason, one that was created by the speed of Hagelin, who beat the Capitals to a puck behind the goal line and swooped around the net. He found Richards at the top of the left circle for a one-time blast that eluded goaltender Braden Holtby, who made 29 saves.

It didn’t take long for Rangers coach John Tortorella to realize he needed that trio on the ice as much as possible.

“We doubled them up right away,” Tortorella said. “With Ritchie, we talked about him shooting the puck right away and not hesitating. They block shots very well and we needed to try to get more shots through. The first goal of the game was a very important goal. Hags doesn’t end up with many points, but he ends up with a couple tonight. He’s been very good this series as far as chasing down pucks and I thought that was key tonight. Gaby was skating tonight, so to get a lead against that team is very important.”

Getting a lead at all in this series was important for both teams; the squad that scored the first goal won all seven games.

That one-goal lead held until the third period, but a six-minute stretch during a back-and-forth second period put Lundqvist to the test — and he passed with flying colors.

The Capitals’ onslaught started with Alexander Semin shaking free from the defense and Richards for a 1-on-1 backhand attempt that Lundqvist denied with his right pad. Less than 30 seconds later, defenseman Dennis Wideman used a toe drag to snap a shot labeled five-hole that Lundqvist shut down. About a minute later, Mike Knuble whacked at a rebound from a Hamrlik shot, and again Lundqvist had the answer.

There was a also a stretch in which the Capitals held the puck in the attacking zone for nearly two minutes, but Lundqvist and the Rangers would not break.

“They caught us a couple times with long shifts and we just ended up collapsing and hoping for a save or we get the puck out and try not to get hurt,” said Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, who was trapped on the ice for nearly three minutes. “They kind of got some momentum off of that but we did our best job to not let that hurt us.”

Del Zotto made it 2-0 at 10:05 of the third period by taking advantage of a poor Capitals line change. Gaborik broke into the zone and fired a long shot that was blocked. But three Capitals backed up too far on the play, allowing Del Zotto to jump into the void and snap a shot that beat Holtby to the stick side.

It turned out to be the second game-winning goal by a Rangers defenseman in this series after Hamrlik answered right back.

“He’s probably been our most consistent at joining the rush,” Tortorella said of Del Zotto. “He shoots the puck wide a lot, didn’t on this one and scored. He has gone through quite a process here, from last year into what he’s doing for us this year. He’s been very consistent both offensively and defensively.”

The loss ends what was a wild season for the Capitals — they fired coach Bruce Boudreau on Nov. 28 and replaced him with Dale Hunter, who instituted a more physical, defensive-minded approach. It paid off in a first-round win against the Bruins but came up a goal short against the Rangers.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing,” Holtby said. “We really did believe that we had (the ability), as a team, to do it all. To look at it, we gave ourselves a great chance and it’s a tough loss, especially, but what we can take away is that New York was a very good team and we didn’t leave anything on the table.”

The Rangers will turn their focus to the Devils, a team they have openly admitted they despise, for what should be a slugfest.

“They’re a great team,” Lundqvist said. “We face them a lot so we know what to expect. It’s going to be a real good series.”