Jonathan Quick made 32 saves and the Los Angeles Kings reached the brink of a Stanley Cup Final sweep with a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers.
The Kings took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National Hockey League championship series and would complete a sweep for their second title in three seasons by winning game four Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
No team has swept the Stanley Cup Final since the Detroit Red Wings blanked the Washington Capitals in the 1998 NHL championship series.
Los Angeles, which defeated New Jersey in six games in the 2012 final, ousted defending champion Chicago in seven games in the Western Conference final.
Jeff Carter beat the buzzer with a wrist shot to score with 0.7 of a second remaining in the first period to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.
Shortly after killing off a penalty, Justin Williams skated across the blue line up the middle and flipped a short pass to his left for Carter, what blasted a shot from the face-off circle that went into the goal off the glove of Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist of Sweden.
Jake Muzzin added a power-play goal 4:17 into the second period to double the Los Angeles advantage.
The Kings stretched the lead to 3-0 with only 2:46 remaining in the second period when Mike Richards blasted a shot past Lundqvist.
