from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

... while neither team’s admitting to it here in Chicago, either, you still have the equivalent of two modern-day dynasties competing for the Western Conference championship – the local Blackhawks, who won Stanley Cups in both 2010 and 2013, against the Los Angeles Kings, who won in 2012.

The Kings, who trail the best-of-seven series 1-0, have made it to the conference final in three consecutive seasons, and they have won 33 playoff games in that span, by far the most post-season wins by any team in the league. This may not be quite the same as Montreal winning five Stanley Cups in a row or the Islanders winning four or the Oilers winning five times in seven years, but it shows consistent excellence nonetheless.

Both Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville and his Kings counterpart Darryl Sutter played in the dynasty era, and know that as difficult as it was then to keep a team together and to press all the right buttons, it is even tougher now.

According to Quenneville, much of the Blackhawks’ success can be traced to the fact that, when they won in 2010, their core group was still “real young” and thus still had a big upside.

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