James Gomez lit his July 4 fireworks a little early this year, one of many Los Angeles Kings hockey fans who celebrated their team's championship win Friday night with pyrotechnic displays of joy.

Moments after the Kings' Alec Martinez scored on the rebound of Tyler Toffoli's shot at 14:43 into the second overtime period to give his team the 3-2 Stanley Cup-winning victory over the New York Rangers, the sky across the Greater L.A. area cracked open with a flurry of bright flashes, loud blasts and multicolored bursts of light that continued for the better part of an hour or so.

"This is how you do it. All the family and friends are here. It's great, our team won, the Kings are the best. L.A.'s the best," said Gomez, 20, a professional house painter from the suburb of Montebello, about 15 minutes southeast of L.A.'s downtown.

He said he felt especially proud of the team's extremely hard-fought Game 5 win because, like they played through the entire series, "those guys, they just never gave up. They just kept coming back, kept coming back through the series, well, through the entire playoffs. They really showed what it's like to be a real champion ... They wouldn't be denied."

With the sudden-death win, the Kings capped the longest postseason in franchise history with the longest game the team had ever played.

Marian Gaborik had scored a tying power-play goal with 12:04 left in regulation, as the Kings rallied from one of several post-season deficits before finishing off the Rangers.

Martinez, who worked his Cup clinching magic after numerous missed chances by both teams through the two tension-filled extra periods, has become somewhat a late-game playoff legend, after also scoring in overtime in Game 7 against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference finals.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made 28 saves and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Justin Williams scored an early goal as Los Angeles added a second title to its 2012 championship, which was the first in the team's 47-year history.

Martinez started the final run to the net with a pass to Kyle Clifford, who dropped the puck to Toffoli for a shot. The rebound went straight to Martinez, and the depth defenseman buried it for his fifth goal of the postseason.

"The Kings' win is a great feeling. But you know what makes everything even sweeter? Mexico won its first game too," said Gomez, referring to the Federation International Football Association World Cup, which started competition earlier in the week, a contest between Mexico and Croatia one of the first games of the tournament.

"No way, the World Cup is important, but the Kings are, well, king," said Roberto Holguin, an auto mechanic from North Hollywood. "I'm glad a Latino made the game-winning shot. He was one of the big heroes of the season ... We need more role models in sports and I think Martinez has the ability to inspire a lot of youth."

Very different from the way they stormed through the playoffs to their first Stanley Cup title in 2012, the Kings won this year's Cup with a great amount of difficulty.

Game 5 gave the Kings a 4-1 record in this year's final series and also marked the 26th playoff game of the spring, equalling the National Hockey League record for the longest postseason run ever.

After fighting through three straight seven-game series to claim the tough Western Conference, the Kings won the first three games of the finals, starting with consecutive OT wins on their home ice at Staples Center.

But the Rangers fought back elimination with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, sending the show back to Staples Center, which was packed with eager fans well before the opening faceoff.

The Kings never led in their two overtime victories at home earlier in the series.

"All I got to say is, 'Go Kings!' I didn't really care about them two years ago when they took the Stanley Cup, but I paid more attention this year because, when you look at the statistics, they weren't expected to make it this far, let alone win everything," said Ben Pineda, 24, a software designer from L.A. "The Kings set a really great example. They showed what can happen when you never say 'Quit.' They made a fan outta me this year ... it feels like we all won."