1967/68: Things had all come together at once for Jack Kent Cooke the eccentric owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, with a spectacular arena in the Great Western Forum about to open and the NHL about to expand. Cooke who was Canadian Born and missed hockey had long dreamed to bring hockey to Hollywood and with expansion he had that opportunity, as the Kings are 1 of 6 teams to join the NHL. Placed with the other 5 new teams the Kings wearing colorful purple and yellow uniforms would finish 2nd in the Western Conference with a record of 31-32-11. However in the playoffs the Kings would be beaten in 7 games by the Minnesota North Stars. 

1992/93: Despite missing Wayne Gretzky for the first half of the season due to a back injury the Kings are able to make in into the playoffs by finishing in 3rd place with a record of 39-35-10. Wayne Gretzky began to get healthy as the playoffs began and by only playing 48 games he was fresh. In the first round the Kings would extinguish the Calgary Flames in 6 games scoring 33 goals including 9 in each of the final 2 games. In the Smythe Finals the Kings stayed red hot as they beat the Vancouver Canucks in 6 games, scoring 26 goals. Facing the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Campbell Conference Finals the Kings finally slowed down as they fell behind 3 games to 2. Facing elimination in Game 6 Wayne Gretzky sent the series to a decisive 7th game with a power play goal in overtime. In game 7 in Toronto, Gretzky carried the Kings on to the Finals with a hat trick as the Kings beat the Leafs 5-4. In their first finals appearance the Kings appeared to be heading for hockey immortality on the Stanley Cup as they won 1 in Montreal and led the Canadiens 2-1 late in the 3rd period of Game 2. However, the Habs facing a 0-2-deficit gambled that Marty McSorley's blade had too much curve and challenged his stick. McSorley's blade was in fact too curved and the Habs would tie the game on the ensuing power play and tie the series in OT. As the series shifted to LA the Habs would continue their overtime magic winning Games 3 and 4 in OT before knocking off the disheartened Kings 4-1 in Game 5.