After the Kings' final game last season, with a long, playoff-less summer looming, Dustin Brown spoke up in the locker room. Remember how awful this feels, he told his teammates. Remember every painful bit so clearly and hate it so much that you'll never want to feel that way again.
Brown was reminded of that moment Thursday morning, barely 12 hours after the Kings had clinched a playoff spot through the St. Louis Blues' loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. They had, after changing their coach and their general manager last summer and after enduring anxious days during the season, made it back to postseason play.