The Kings failed to defend their Stanley Cup championship, with the Chicago Blackhawks knocking them off in the Western Conference finals. Kings captain Dustin Brown shared his thoughts on where the Kings fell short in their bid to become the first team to repeat as champions since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and ’98. Said Brown:

“It’s so fresh. It’s hard to pin-point one thing or another. But looking back on the playoffs, I wasn’t happy with my production on the offensive side of things. I think I can contribute more than I did. Kopi (Anze Kopitar) and I had this talk. Me and him struggled from a statistical standpoint. That’s frustrating for players that want to be difference-makers, and I think Kopi and myself are those types of players.

“From a team-wide standpoint, we did a lot of good things. It was a battle. Very difficult to grind it out. We put ourselves in holes. That’s probably a key for us to learn from going forward. We could dig out of holes, but it’s probably much easier if we don’t put ourselves down 2-0 against St. Louis (in the first round). Or down 2-0 in Game 4 against St. Louis. Same story over and over again. You saw it in the last game in Chicago. We had to come back down 3-1 (in the series) and down 2-0 five minutes into the game. We’re definitely capable of resiliency in the group, but you also see us get off to good starts and the game is never in question. So, that’s probably one thing … not digging ourselves a hole.”