NHL Stanley Cup 2014 Champions: Los Angeles Kings Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

NHL Stanley Cup 2014 Champions: Los Angeles Kings Blu-ray Movie Review

Kings Cup runneth over.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 1, 2014

When does "number one" not always mean "number one?" In the playoffs, of course. Winning from a lower seed isn't unusual, but the Los Angeles Kings are making it a habit. Much like the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl out of the AFC's sixth and final seed, the 2011-2012 Los Angeles Kings entered that year's playoffs as the Western Conference's eighth and final team following a 3rd place Pacific division ranking, ending the season 16 points behind the conference-topping Vancouver Canucks and five points ahead of the ninth-place Calgary Flames. Despite the low rank, the team cruised through the playoffs, losing only two games en route to the finals and defeating the New Jersey Devils four games to two. The club would climb to the fifth seed the following year but lose to the eventual Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in five games.

Ready.

It was a similar story for the 2013-2014 Kings. Los Angeles finished the regular season with an even 100 points and a 46–28–8 record. That was good enough to earn the Western conference's sixth seed, just behind the defending Cup champion Blackhawks, 16 points behind the top-seeded Anaheim Ducks, and a comfortable 11 points ahead of Phoenix, the Western conference's top-ranking team not to play for Lord Stanley's hardware. In round one, the Kings faced off against the San Jose Sharks, a perennial powerhouse in the standings but a team that always seems to crumble in the playoffs. Since the 2000-2001 season, the Sharks have finished first in their division six times and seven times amassed over 100 points in a season but fallen short of the Cup finals every year. The team's 2008-2009 season embodies its tradition of postseason struggles; the Sharks were ousted in the first round despite a 117-point season that led the NHL. The Kings, the club that ousted the Sharks the year prior in a tight seven-game series, again beat the team to their north in seven, this time doing so in historic fashion by wiping away a 3-0 Sharks series lead to win four straight and advance to the conference semifinals.

In round two, the Kings squared off with another in-state (in this case, cross-town) rival, the top-seed Anaheim Ducks. The Kings jumped out to an early 2-0 series lead but would have to soldier through the remaining five games, losing games three and four on home ice before returning to Anaheim to win game five. Staples Center continued to be a bugaboo for the Kings in the series with a loss in game six to even the series at three games apiece before the action shifted back to Anaheim for a decisive game seven, a game the Kings took easily by a final score of 6-2. Los Angeles would once again square off with Chicago for the right to return to the Cup finals in a battle of the previous two Cup winners in the Western Conference finals. The Kings would find themselves in another seesaw seven game affair, here dropping game one but rebounding with three straight victories -- two in Staples Center -- to secure a commanding 3-1 lead. The talented Blackhawks, led by superstars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, won a pair of one-goal games to even the series at three and, for the third time in three series, force the Kings into a one-and-done game seven. Three periods and eight goals later, both teams skated back to the locker room awaiting the first overtime period. The Kings would ultimately prevail, scoring off the stick of Alec Martinez to earn a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.

In the finals, the Kings would face not the President's Trophy winning Boston Bruins or the talent-heavy Pittsburgh Penguins (editorial: sigh) but instead the surprise New York Rangers, a team that skated into the playoffs with 96 points and a fifth seed in the top-heavy Eastern Conference. The Rangers, like the Kings, went the distance in the first two rounds of the playoffs, defeating two Pennsylvania rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers in round one and the Pittsburgh Penguins in round two. The Rangers would face off against the Montreal Canadians, another surprise conference finals participant, and win the series in six. With both teams pushed near the limit in terms of number of games played to reach the Finals, it would appear to be anyone's series. Yet the Kings, with a recent ring and significantly more playoff experience, took a commanding 3-0 series lead. The Rangers took game four on home ice but would lose game five in Los Angeles on a goal in the second overtime from Alec Martinez, the same player who secured the team's trip to the finals with an overtime goal against the Blackhawks.

Los Angeles Kings: Stanley Cup 2014 Champions follows basic sports championship home video layout protocol, glimpsing back at the Kings' Cup-Winning team from two years prior, the club's loss to the Blackhawks in the previous season's playoffs, and its refocus on the 2013-2014 season. The program features player interviews throughout and some good, quality photography to jazz up the proceedings beyond basic television coverage footage. The feature looks briefly at the season, mentioning the Winter Classic game, midseason trades, and rookies who stepped in to fill the skates left empty by several departed players. The bulk of the program, of course, focuses on the Kings' run through the playoffs, perhaps not spending quite as much time as fans would have liked on the Sharks, Ducks, and Blackhawks series but motoring through them towards the prize of the Stanley Cup, which is, of course, highlighted in greater detail than anything else in the program.

NHL Stanley Cup 2014 Champions: Los Angeles Kings Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Los Angeles Kings: Stanley Cup 2014 Champions skates onto Blu-ray with a decent 1080i high definition transfer. There are times when it looks a little washed out, but generally this is a solid release with bright, even colors and solid detail. The Kings uniforms -- much like the San Antonio Spurs attire -- are of a predominantly black-and-white color scheme, so the color flavor generally comes from other pieces, such as bright Blackhawks red, blue and red Rangers uniform accents, blue and red lines on the ice, and the multicolored advertiser spots along the boards. Details produce clean, accurate objects, from player faces and playoff beards to fine uniform textures. Light ringing, heavy noise, and occasional blocking are all evident, but overall this is a solid presentation from Cinedigm.

NHL Stanley Cup 2014 Champions: Los Angeles Kings Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Los Angeles Kings: Stanley Cup 2014 Champions features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. As one might expect, this is a rather basic presentation that spreads overlaying music nicely across the front but keeps general sound effects, such as body checks and slap shots and screaming fans, a little bit in the background. Clarity across all elements satisfies. Dialogue presentation, whether narration, interviews, or clips from broadcasts, plays with good, even clarity. This is the sort of track that serviceably conveys the basics, no more and no less.

NHL Stanley Cup 2014 Champions: Los Angeles Kings Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Los Angeles Kings: Stanley Cup 2014 Champions contains a good bit of extra content, including lengthy highlights from all playoff series from the 2013-2014 season.

• Behind the Scenes with the Stanley Cup (1080i, 1:22): A short look at Cup preparation and transport. This is nothing fans haven't seen before on ESPN or NHL Network.
• Top 10 Highlights (1080i): A package of highlights from Regular Season (12:39), Round 1 (10:07), Round 2 (10:42), Round 3 (6:25), and Stanley Cup Final (3:28). Note that the highlight packages contain non-Kings highlights; various players, teams, and playoff series are represented.
• Extended Los Angeles Parade Celebration (1080i, 4:25): Random footage and speech clips from the Cup celebration parade.
• NHL Network Interviews (1080i, 15:30): Jake Muzzin, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, and Marian Gaborik share their thoughts on the team, the competition, and the playoffs prior to the Finals.
• 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs Wireless Recaps (1080i): Additional playoff footage, including plenty of raw on-ice audio from Round 1 (51:08), Round 2 (29:12), and Round 3 (16:11). As with the Top 10 Highlights supplement, this is not exclusive to the Kings but includes bits from every playoff series.
• Extended On-Ice Celebration (1080i, 2:24): More footage from the minutes following the team's Cup victory.
• Extended Locker Room Celebration (1080i, 2:02): Inside access to the locker room following the Kings' Cup win.

NHL Stanley Cup 2014 Champions: Los Angeles Kings Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Los Angeles Kings: Stanley Cup 2014 Champions delivers enough material to please Kings fan, taking them down a condensed road of a Stanley Cup victory season. The piece features a quality mix of game action and interviews, as well as a deep supplemental section that contains a number of interviews and highlights from the Kings and teams that made the playoffs. The 1080i picture quality satisfies, as does the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. Highly recommended to Kings fans, and this is a good enough production that all NHL fans -- except, maybe, fans of the Sharks, Ducks, Blackhawks, and Rangers -- should enjoy it.