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ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd doesn't think the NHL can be saved in the popularity contest, no matter how good the playoffs are.

Wayne Gretzky kept a low profile for obvious reasons during the Western Conference finals, but you can expect to see him at Staples Center for the Stanley Cup finals.

"For sure, I’ll be at Game 3," The Great One told ESPN.com Wednesday.

Gretzky had ties to both the Los Angeles Kings, where he starred for them during their 1993 Cup finals run, and the Phoenix Coyotes, where he coached many of the players still on that team.

Wanting to stay as impartial as possible, Gretzky stayed out of the limelight and didn’t attend any of the games. Nor did you see him quoted anywhere.

"The biggest thing of all is that those two teams both earned the right to get there and both had worked so hard,” Gretzky said over the phone. "I just really felt it wasn’t my place to sort of steal some of the attention away from the players and the organizations that worked so hard to get there. I thought it was just best to stay on the sidelines that series.

"The Kings have been playing unreal. The Coyotes had an unreal year. Wow. I don’t know if anybody picked L.A.-Phoenix for the Western finals, but they both earned the right to be there, that’s for sure."

Of course, Gretzky may end up with ties to both teams in the Cup finals should the Rangers beat the Devils in the Eastern Conference finals.

"I have nothing but great memories of being in New York, and of course there’s Glen (Sather) there and Mark (Messier) part of the team," said Gretzky. "It’s a great city, a great place. Obviously the Devils still have a lot to say about things."

Gretzky, who lives in Los Angeles, is beginning to see a market that’s coming alive again for hockey, just like 19 years ago.

"They’re starting to gain some momentum, similar to what we did in ’93," said Gretzky. "The big thing about us in ’93 was that the Clippers weren’t very good and I believe the Lakers got beat out relatively early that year. Which kind of left it an open market for us. Through the first couple of rounds this year, the Clippers and Lakers were both exciting. So you’re competing with teams. Now that it’s just the Kings left standing, and obviously heading into the finals, I think you’ll find it a lot more pizzazz now. There’s already excitement now, but I think it’ll go to another level now that the Kings are the only team standing."

The comparisons to 1993 will be unavoidable given that it was the Kings’ only other trip to the Cup finals before now. Gretzky sees a better team in L.A. this time around.

"What made that team so special is that we weren’t the best team," said Gretzky. "It was very similar to this team in the sense that we started every series on the road. We had to win a really tough Game 7 in the semifinals in Toronto. We were a team that really believed in the coach and the system. ... It just was a team that came together. The reality, though, is that this L.A. team today has more depth than we had. I don’t mean this as any disrespect to our team in ’93 -- because it was a great run -- but this team is a legitimate contender that deserves to be where they’re at right now. When we lost in ’93, the best team won the Stanley Cup (Montreal). Going into the finals this year, whether it’s the Devils or the Rangers, I would tell you that L.A. is a good team and they’ll be ready to play. They’re firing on all cylinders."

Gretzky credited Kings GM Dean Lombardi for his work in assembling the team. Lombardi was under fire earlier this season when the Kings struggled. Now, as Gretzky pointed out, some of Lombardi’s moves have really paid off.

"Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick have really been special for them. Their defense is solid. (Drew) Doughty is playing his best hockey,” said Gretzky. "The trade for (Dustin) Penner has turned out to be better than most people think because he’s scored big goals and given them some size and playoff experience. The two young kids they brought up, (Jordan) Nolan and (Dwight) King, they’ve done a really nice job.

"When you build a team and you’re patient, and your management and scouting is good, you can afford to move really good players. I think when they moved (Jack) Johnson there was a little bit of surprise to some people, but they felt they had that young (Slava) Voynov ready to step in. They needed more scoring and (Jeff) Carter has helped them with that. And I really believe you need two really, really solid centermen. (Mike) Richards has really taken pressure off (Anze) Kopitar. It’s a great 1-2 punch. You can’t just check Kopitar anymore.

"Dean Lombardi has put together a really good team. They’re a well-coached team with a good system, and Darryl (Sutter) has upped the ante for them. They’ve been more aggressive and more on the puck. They don’t sit back for anything. I think their 8-0 record on the road indicates how good they really are. They can play in any building."

You get the sense Gretzky is impressed by the Kings? You better believe it. Although he’s hardly alone in that sentiment.

ESPN NHL analyst Barry Melrose takes you through some of the Kings playoffs games, past and present.

Battle of the goalies, not so much: Six goals in the first two periods? The offensive floodgates opened in a big way. Not exactly a white out, guys.

That's a wrap: The Kings are off to the Stanley Cup finals and will be chilling in the California sun for a week while the Rangers and Devils beat themselves up. The Conn Smythe is Jonathan Quick's to lose.

There's no Doughty he's got a good shot: Two shots from the point that resulted in two goals, two goals that each time tied the game. This guy is having the performance of his young career.

Jeff Carter is magic: As in, he disappears every now and then. Even his assist off the Kings' third goal was off a flubbed play.

He's got next: Anze Kopitar should be the league's next superstar. Size, hands, speed -- if he were on the East Coast, he'd be more well known. (And depressed that he's not in all that sunshine.)

From the official NHL release:

NEW YORK (May 22, 2012) – The National Hockey League announced today the schedule for the 2012 Stanley Cup Final.

Based on their superior regular-season point totals, either the New York Rangers or the New Jersey Devils will host Games One and Two of the best-of-seven Final, as well as Games Five and Seven. Games Three and Four will be hosted by the Western Conference champion, either the Phoenix Coyotes or the Los Angeles Kings, as well as Game Six.

In the U.S., NBC will broadcast Games One and Two and, if necessary, Games Five through Seven of the Final, while NBC Sports Network will telecast Games Three and Four. In Canada, CBC and RDS will televise the entire series. All games also will be carried on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

NHL Network, the League's 24-hour, all-access pass to the most comprehensive hockey coverage, will feature special programming surrounding the Stanley Cup Final. NHL.com will continue to provide extensive digital coverage.

2012 Stanley Cup Final Schedule

Game Date Time (ET) Eastern Champion vs. Western Champion Networks
Game 1 Wed., May 30 8 p.m. Western Champion at Eastern Champion NBC, CBC, RDS

Game 2 Sat., June 2 8 p.m. Western Champion at Eastern Champion NBC, CBC, RDS

Game 3 Mon., June 4 8 p.m. Eastern Champion at Western Champion NBCSN, CBC, RDS

Game 4 Wed., June 6 8 p.m. Eastern Champion at Western Champion NBCSN, CBC, RDS

*Game 5 Sat., June 9 8 p.m. Western Champion at Eastern Champion NBC, CBC, RDS

*Game 6 Mon., June 11 8 p.m. Eastern Champion at Western Champion NBC, CBC, RDS

*Game 7 Wed., June 13 8 p.m. Western Champion at Eastern Champion NBC, CBC, RDS

LOS ANGELES -- There's no doubt the NHL is a copycat league, but just because the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup without a power play a year ago doesn’t mean that’s necessarily the way to go.

"No, definitely not," Kings winger Jeff Carter said Tuesday morning, after the pregame skate. "In this day and age, it’s a huge part of the game. It’s pretty tough to win the whole thing without your power play going."

The Kings are 15th on the power play out of the 16 playoff teams, with a woeful 8.6 percent success rate thanks to six goals on 70 chances. L.A.'s two power-play goals in the Phoenix series have come on two-man advantages.

A year ago, the Bruins won the Cup despite an 11.4 percent power play (10 goals on 88 chances over four rounds). Boston coach Claude Julien had to answer questions about it every day until it became a moot point with the Stanley Cup in his hands.

Like those Bruins, the Kings have been outstanding on the penalty kill -- L.A. is tops in the playoffs with a 92.2 success rate -- and are second only to New Jersey in the 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio.

"Our penalty killing has been pretty good throughout the year, too," star center Anze Kopitar said. "We took it to another level in the playoffs. That’s what you got to do. We wouldn’t win as many games as we did if our PK wasn’t as good. And we got to continue doing that."

Still, getting the odd power-play goal would be nice.

"I think we’ve been doing some good things on there, it’s just a matter of bearing down and getting the puck in the back of the net," Carter said. "Phoenix blocks a lot of shots, those guys out there really sacrifice, we’re going to have to figure it out. We need to be better at maybe making a move here and there and getting pucks to the net."

Kopitar concurs.

"Sometimes it comes down to special teams and we certainly understand that our power play has to be better," he said. "In saying that, we have quite a bit of zone time; we just can’t connect and score goals. We've got to work on that, simplify it a little bit, and get more shots."

My opinion is that the Kings are too stationary on the power play, allowing penalty killers easier looks to block passing and shooting lanes.

"I think we’re getting looks, we’re getting zone time, we've just got to get the screen or the tip or the rebound goal out of it," coach Darryl Sutter said.

Another big factor, as cliche as it sounds, is the first goal. The Coyotes and Kings are a combined 14-3 in the playoffs (Phoenix 7-2, L.A. 7-1) when scoring first. That plays larger and larger later in series as the stakes get higher.

"The NHL is really about the first goal," Sutter said. "When you get veteran coaches and experienced coaching staffs, and teams that have played together and are still playing, what they’ve done really well is play with leads. That’s why they’re still playing. It’s important. Neither team scores a lot of goals. They’re close games. So the first goal is important."

The first goal seems to put everyone at ease for the team that scores it.

"I think it just calms [everyone] down to a certain degree, so they know we’re doing things right, things are going your way," Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. "I think confidence is everything in the playoffs just because everyone is so, so close. With everyone being that close, feeling confident is big."

The Kings try again to close out the Western Conference finals in Phoenix against the Coyotes.

* Shane Doan: 2nd career multi-goal playoff game (54th game)
* Mike Smith: 3rd shutout in 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs (ties Lundqvist for most)
* Jonathan Quick: 9th straight game allowing 2 or fewer goals
* Kings loss snaps 8-game win streak (1 goal combined in their 2 losses in playoffs)

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Mike Smith made 36 saves in his 2-0 victory at Los Angeles that enabled the Coyotes to avoid being swept by the Kings in the Western Conference finals. Smith is the seventh goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout with his team trailing 3-0 in a playoff series and the first ever to do so on the road. Before Smith, the last goaltender to record a shutout with his team facing a four-game sweep was the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist against the Penguins in a second-round series in 2008.

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Under the current playoff format, no team has gone undefeated on the road en route to an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. Kings would be the first to do so if they win Game 5 in Phoenix.

Barry Melrose breaks down Game 4 between the Coyotes and Kings, and looks ahead to the rest of the series.

LOS ANGELES -- The silver lining of losing Game 4 at home when you have a chance to wrap up a berth in the Stanley Cup finals? The Los Angeles Kings carry their perfect 7-0 road record into Tuesday night’s game at Phoenix.

"You've got to win four games," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "Do I like going back on the road tomorrow? No, absolutely not. But that's the way it works. That's why it's four out of seven.

"Did we think as not-a-home-ice team we weren't ever going to lose a game? No, it's that simple."

Comeback kids?

The Coyotes can dream, right? If the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers can erase a 3-0 series deficit, why not them?

"We recognize we put ourselves in a tough position," said Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who scored twice Sunday. "We also know it has been done. I guess that's what sports are all about, trying to do something that someone hasn't done for a while, try to do things that the odds are kind of stacked against you. Nobody wants to be in the position we're in, but everybody wants to prove they can kind of answer that call.

"We got an unbelievable group of guys in our room. It sounds cliche-ish, every team that reaches this point says the same thing about their guys, but I really think our guys are special. We got just a good group and I like it."

Desperate hockey

Asked whether he felt his team played desperate hockey Sunday, standout Coyotes netminder Mike Smith couldn’t help but laugh.

"I think we played desperate since January," he said with a chuckle. "But that goes without saying. We were down 3-0 going into this game. If there's any point in the season when you're desperate, I think knowing you can go home if you lose this game, I think that's where desperation sets in. We didn't panic. I think that was a big part of why we played so well. We made plays tonight. We got pucks behind their D. Like Doaner was saying, we got some second opportunities in front of Quick. We did the little things it takes to beat a team like that.

"We have to worry about the next game. If we want to win that one, we have to play as good as we did tonight or maybe a little bit better."

Kings power play

The Kings’ woeful power play continued its ways Sunday, going 0-for-6 in Game 4 to total 6-for-70 in the playoffs (8.6 percent).

In fact, when you consider their two power-play goals in Game 2 at Phoenix were scored 5-on-3, you have to go back to Game 3 of the second round against St. Louis to find the Kings’ last 5-on-4 goal.

Yes, I know, the Bruins won the Cup last spring with a brutal power play. But that doesn’t make it a good thing to have a power play this ineffective.

"Tonight the power play ... we had looks up top, we took too much time,” Sutter said. "We basically never really looked at it, but I'm going to bet that Gordon, Vermette and probably Pyatt blocked more shots, pucks just hitting them in the pads. Quite honestly, that's poor shooting on our part from up top from guys that are supposed to take that shot."

More Smith

Mike Smith stopped 36 shots for his third shutout of the playoffs.

Ho-hum, right?

"You know what, it's funny, every game, when we need a big game from Smitty, he's been absolutely amazing,” Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. "At the end of every game, always kind of remind him about how unbelievable he is when we need a big game.

"In the first period, the reason we come out of that period 1-0 is because of him. As a team, I think we gain so much confidence from him. I think all of a sudden it's like, Smitty's on, we're going to win. That's I think a big thing.’’

Coyotes ownership

There have been varying reports about Greg Jamison’s bid to buy the Coyotes and keep them in Phoenix, but NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly was on hand for Sunday’s Coyotes-Kings game and offered this update:

"Things remain on track with the Jamison group. We are continuing the process toward getting a transaction closed."

ESPNLosAngeles.com tells you what to watch for in Game 4 between the Coyotes and Kings, and Barry Melrose discusses whether the Kings will finish off the series.

Jordan Nolan is just soaking it all in.

The Los Angeles Kings rookie winger was in Manchester of the AHL more than three months ago. Now he’s one win from the Stanley Cup finals.

"Just enjoying everything, really, it’s pretty surreal," Nolan said. "My buddies and my family are all excited for me."

His father, former Jack Adams Award winner Ted Nolan, is in town this weekend. It’s a special time in the 22-year-old’s life.

His reaction had someone told him in September at training camp that he’d be on this playoff run with the Kings?

"I would not have believed it," he said, smiling. "It’s surreal and exciting. But I worked hard to get here."

LOS ANGELES -- The "Goalie Whisperer," aka Sean Burke, aka the hottest commodity in goalie coaching circles in the NHL these days, just happens to be a UFA this summer.

Indeed, Burke’s contract with the Phoenix Coyotes as goalie coach and director of player development expires in the offseason. Burke told ESPN.com that he loves it in Phoenix, so there’s certainly no threat of him jumping to another NHL team. But a decision he is weighing is whether he should spend more time in Portland, Ore., where his son Brendan Burke is a netminder for the WHL’s Winterhawks. Next season is Brendan’s NHL draft year.

Burke said he hasn’t made a decision yet. The focus right now is on the Coyotes, who trail the Kings 3-0 and play Sunday at Staples Center.

Still, interesting to know that the man who helped Ilya Bryzgalov play his best hockey of his career in Phoenix and then resurrected Mike Smith’s career is a free agent after the season.

My guess? He stays put in Phoenix but perhaps GM Don Maloney finds a way to get Burke out to Portland a little more often. Plus, he'd be a great GM someday, being a cerebral guy who has paid his dues.

More on diving

A day after Coyotes coach Dave Tippett accused the Kings of embellishing calls, Kings coach Darryl Sutter was asked about the subject in general as it applies to the playoffs this year.

“You know, in the three series, we’ve usually talked about it, because you want to make officials aware of it, and I think we’ve seen a little bit in the Vancouver series and hardly at all in the St. Louis series, and I haven’t seen it once in this one,’’ Sutter said.

“Quite honestly, the supervisors and/or referees will come over and say, ‘Tell Cam Cole next time not to dive,’ and I haven’t heard that yet this series. So, that really hasn’t been part of it.’’

Cole is the respected Vancouver Sun columnist who asked Sutter about the diving Friday.

As for Tippett, he wasn’t in the mood Friday to get back on that soap box.

"I said my piece on embellishment," Tippett said. "It wasn't geared toward that game last night. I talked about this from the start of the year. So I've said my piece on that. Obviously, there's frustration on our part that we would like to get better results. Our margin for error is very slim when we feel like there's some situations that happen in a game that go against you, we're looking for every little scratch we can find, every little piece of positive we can find to help us get back in the series. When that doesn't happen, you get frustrated with it. But, you know, you give L.A. credit; they've played very well. I don't think we've played as well in this series as we have the two previous. We're down 3-0 because of it.’’

A league source told ESPN.com on Friday that Tippett would not be fined for his postgame comments. Which is good, because a coach should be entitled to vent, especially after going down 3-0 in a series.

Ahead of Their Time: The Kings are one game away from their second trip to the Stanley Cup finals. How dominant have they been? Over the last seven games, they’ve trailed for only 9:49 out of a possible 420 minutes (2.4 percent) and have trailed by more than one goal just once this entire postseason.

* Kings: 4th team in the last 30 years to win 11 of 1st 12 playoff games (Penguins in 2008, Red Wings in 1995, Oilers in 1983)
* Kings: have won the 1st 3 games in all 3 playoff series this year; had never won 1st 3 games of playoff series before this year
* Dwight King: game-winning 3rd-period goal is 5th in playoffs after scoring 5 in regular season
* Kings: trailed for 2:07 in 2nd period, 1st time trailing since Game 1 in Western Conference Semifinals; in last 7 games, have trailed for only 9:49 of 420 minutes

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Jonathan Quick has won his last eight playoff starts and has not allowed more than two goals in any of them (he owns a 1.24 goals-against average and a .950 saves percentage). That matches the longest such streak within one season in NHL playoff history. Detroit's Terry Sawchuk won all eight of his playoff starts and did not allow more than two goals in any of them back in 1952.