from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

Bottle this, Mr. Bettman.

Then distribute it to the other 28 NHL clubs and the players union with the message, “Play this way and our game will be so popular we’ll be counting gate receipts every night in 100,000-seat football stadiums and the minimum salary will be $4 million.”

The Kings and Rangers, representing Hollywood and Broadway, respectively, have delivered unpredictable, rollicking entertainment for the opening two games of the 2014 Stanley Cup final.

That is, unless you find lead changes, goals, egregious mistakes, enormous saves, overtime thrills and punishing bodywork make for dull hockey.

Oh yeah, and the fastest two goals scored in a Cup final game in 67 years on Saturday night. That, too.

So much fun, folks, you’d swear the coaching staffs on both teams were banned from the building or lost in Saturday’s dense L.A. smog, leaving the players to just figure it out for themselves.

continued