Down Goes Brown: Previewing the round one matchups – Western Conference
#2 San Jose vs. #7 Los Angeles
The matchup: This all-California matchup will be perhaps the most exciting first round series that you watch highlights of on YouTube after falling asleep during the first period of every game.
The view from San Jose: Players report that Antti Niemi keeps talking about some mythical trophy you can win at the end of the playoffs; man, are those Finnish guys crazy or what?
The view from Los Angeles: Anze Kopitar will be sidelined for the rest of season with torn ligaments and a fractured ankle, which makes his matchup with Joe Thornton basically even.
Player to watch: The Kings decided not to have Brayden Schenn make his playoff debut to start the series, as they don’t want all of Wayne Gretzky’s franchise scoring records broken until round two.
Prediction: This will be the most important and newsworthy series of the first round, according to every hockey writer explaining to his editor why he needs to be the one sent to cover it.
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