No. 8 seed Kings sweep into conference finals

Dustin Brown scored two goals, Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings finished an improbable four-game sweep of the visiting St. Louis Blues with a 3-1 victory Sunday, advancing to the conference finals for just the second time in club history.

Rookie Jordan Nolan scored an early goal for the Kings, the first team in recent NHL history to eliminate their conference's top two seeds in the same postseason.

"It's a special group, and we knew that all along this season," said Anze Kopitar, the Slovenian star who had assists on both of Brown's goals. "Maybe we didn't break out when we would have liked to, but I think we've peaked at the right time, and that's the most important thing."

After steamrolling top-seeded Vancouver and second-seeded St. Louis with eight wins in nine games, the Kings will face the winner of Phoenix's series with Nashville in the Western Conference finals. Phoenix leads 3-1, with Game 5 in Phoenix tonight.

Devils 4, Flyers 2: At Newark, N.J., Dainius Zubrus scored two goals and New Jersey rallied from an early two-goal deficit and pushed Philadelphia to the brink of elimination in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Zubrus put New Jersey ahead 3-2 late in the second period and iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Philadelphia.