Rogers Arena

VANCOUVER, Canada — Dustin Brown is not the type of captain who screams. He's not fiery by nature, and maybe that fueled speculation the struggling Kings would trade him before the deadline in order to turn around a disappointing season and get a better shot at a playoff spot. What Brown supposedly lacks doesn't matter. The physicality and fierce determination he has brought to his game the past six weeks have proved he's in his rightful place as the captain, a point he underscored Friday by scoring two short-handed goals in the Kings' 4-2 playoff upset of the top-seeded Canucks before an unhappy sellout crowd at Rogers Arena.

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — The Vancouver Canucks, vying for their first Stanley Cup championship, will play the decisive seventh game of the finals Wednesday without winger Mason Raymond , who suffered a vertebrae compression fracture as the result of being driven into the boards by Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk on Monday. The Canucks took the unusual step Tuesday of announcing the nature and severity of the injury, saying Raymond will be out three to four months.

VANCOUVER, Canada--Greetings from Vancouver, where only one of the Sedin twins was on the ice for the Canucks' game-day skate in advance of Wednesday night's first-round playoff opener against the Kings. Coach Alain Vigneault said afterward that Daniel Sedin, who has a concussion, won't play Wednesday. "This is a unique injury and you have to take it day by day," he said. Vigneault also said he would not address reports in the Swedish media that Daniel had experienced headaches after skating on Monday.

It really is a small world after all. When Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick and Vancouver goalie Cory Schneider faced each other in Games 3 and 4 of their teams' first-round playoff series it was like deja vu all over again. Quick, a native of Milford, Conn., and Schneider, who was born in Marblehead, Mass., are familiar foes. They opposed each other in prep school, when Quick attended Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Conn., and Schneider attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

NHL PLAYOFFS :: FIRST LOOKS NO. 8 KINGS (40-27-15) vs. NO. 1 VANCOUVER (51-22-9) They met four times this season, with each team winning twice. One game went to a shootout (Jan. 17), which the Kings won. Two others were decided in regulation by a margin of one goal (Nov. 10 and March 26) and the only one-sided outcome was a contentious meeting on New Year's Eve at Staples Center in which the Kings won, 4-1. That night, Kings center Anze Kopitar ended a career-worst streak of 17 games without a goal.

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — The announcement Tuesday that the NHL will return to Winnipeg next season following the sale and move of the Atlanta Thrashers was greeted favorably by the Vancouver Canucks, whose top farm team has been in Winnipeg since 2001. Players who toiled in Winnipeg on their way to the big time have fond memories of the city, which will become the seventh NHL franchise based in Canada. The Canucks' affiliate, the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose, will move to a still-undecided new home.

From Vancouver, Canada There was a time in Alexandre Burrows' career when coaches didn't trust him in close games and he'd watch other players thrive under pressure and become go-to guys. The feisty Vancouver winger became that guy Saturday. He scored the first goal, set up the second and scored 11 seconds into overtime on a remarkable wraparound to lead the Canucks to a 3-2 victory and a two-games-to-none lead over the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals. "The first few years of my career I was on the bench for those kinds of goals," he said.

From Vancouver, Canada — They've played this game before, in backyards and on frozen ponds with snow banks for boards and their feet stuffed into extra socks to fit into their hand-me-down skates. Before a nation eager to reclaim the trophy it considers a birthright, in a city ready to explode with joy, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks will play Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday. The injuries players are taping and hiding — and there are many — the fatigue built up after six months of travel and more than 100 games won't matter when they meet at Rogers Arena.

Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo put on a hoodie and headphones and went for a walk along Vancouver's scenic seawall Friday afternoon. He had gone down that path before he faced the Chicago Blackhawks in the seventh game of the first round of the playoffs, but this trip was different. He had yielded 12 goals in Boston while the Bruins tied the Stanley Cup finals at two games each, rekindling questions about his big-game credentials. Burrowed into that hoodie, oblivious to everything around him, he took a stroll after the team's pregame meal.

It's been 11 years since the Kings won a playoff series, so what's another four days? Well, plenty actually, if you believe Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, who wasn't too happy about the extended break in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series against the Vancouver Canucks - and maneuvered his way through yet another off-day Saturday. Last Sunday, the Kings held a commanding 3-0 lead in the series and looked poised to eliminate the Canucks, the Presidents' Trophy winners as the NHL's top regular-season team.