The Kings hope Anze Kopitar can lead them past the Canucks
in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
(Creative Commons)

When the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks take the ice today for the first round of the NHL playoffs, the battle will come down to an arm wrestle between Vancouver's offensive juggernaut and the Kings' youthful defense.

Most analysts are calling it the matchup with the most potential to be a knock-down, drag-out fight with several making the call "Vancouver in seven."

The season series comparison goes to the Canucks, 3-1, with the Vancouver defense holding the Kings back. Los Angeles only scored three goals in the first three games. But the April Fools' joke was on goalie Roberto Luongo as the Kings were able to put eight pucks into the net in the last meeting between the teams on April 1.

It's been the longest playoff drought in the Kings' 42-season history. They hadn't been in the postseason since 2002. The story of Los Angeles hockey since then has been about rebuilding with a youthful core of players who would be called "future superstars" for seasons in a row. For players like Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, they finally have a chance to prove or fall flat on that prediction.

This also means that the experience advantage tips to Vancouver in the matchup. Thirteen players on the Kings' roster have never been to the playoffs, while the Canucks team made it into the second round just last year. The Kings' organization will look to veterans Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi to guide the team.

On the Canucks side, the main story was the offensive machine that generated 268 goals this season, putting Vancouver second to Washington in that category. In the tougher Western Conference, that's saying something. Overall, the Canucks had six players score 25 or more goals.

Top Lines

The Canucks' top line, made up of Alexandre Burrows in the center and twins Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin on the wings, was dubbed the No. 1 line in the NHL back in March by TSN. Henrik's 112 points put him at the top of the scoring list for the league and earned him the Art Ross trophy ahead of more well-known stars like Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. The line scored 93 of the team's goals this year.

Kopitar and Stanley Cup finalists Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams should be skating on the top line for the Kings. The three played well in the beginning of the season before injuries to Smyth and Williams broke up the lineup. In spite of that setback, the trio still produced 66 goals and 163 points.

Kopitar had an NHL-career best 81 points and 34 goals during the regular season. The 22-year-old center from Slovenia is key to the Kings' success in the series. Simply put, when Kopitar is able to bring the puck in front of the goalie, the Kings win. Someone who can help with that is Smyth, a 16-season veteran. The winger put up 53 points and 22 goals for the Kings this season and was on the Oilers team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006.

Williams is bit of a wild card for the Kings. He had two stellar seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-2007 and won the Cup with that team but has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and missed 28 games this season with the Kings.

Minding The Net

It's hard to disagree with the argument that goalie performance is the most crucial aspect of hockey success. A large part of the series outcome will come down to which goalies show up for the Kings and Canucks. Will one of them be the brilliant Roberto Luongo who helped Canada win Olympic gold? Will another be the Jonathan Quick who had the most wins for a Kings goalie and was the third goalie selected to the U.S. Olympic team. Or will it be the Quick and Luongos who have struggled since the Olympic break?

Quick, who didn't have any ice time during the Olympics, has been winless in his last seven starts. Since the break, his record was 4-7-4, his save percentage was 0.904 and he's been pulled twice. Before the break, he was never pulled, went 35-17-3 and had a 0.907 save percentage for the season. This has caused many to wonder if the Kings should bring up Jonathan Bernier, who has been outstanding for the Manchester Monarchs. Bernier won all three games he played for the Kings this season.

But Kings coach Terry Murray is sticking with his main man Quick. Murray is confident that some time off will help Quick get back to form.

"I think it will get him refocused," Murray said. "That's the one word that I keep having conversations with him. It's concentration. Time away is always a good thing to get that focus back, that concentration level back."

Luongo won Olympic gold with Canada but his play since putting on the medal has not been as stellar. He has a 0.913 save percentage for the season and went 31-17-2 before the break. Since the Olympics, Luongo has a 0.872 save percentage over 16 games and a record of 9-5-2, including the 8-3 rout by the Kings.

Defense

One area where the Kings might have a slight advantage is defense. Los Angeles has the advantage in goals allowed per game (2.57 vs. 2.66 for Vancouver), and 20-year-old Drew Doughty is one of the big reasons why. He leads the team in ice time, scored 16 goals and put up 59 total points. Doughty earned a plus-20 rating and his play has caused some to bandy about his nomination for the Norris trophy, including Murray.

"Oh yeah, he is deserving of it," Murray said. "Absolutely. There's got to be a lot of consideration for him... He plays in lots of critical moments, lots of minutes, and this team is going to be -- we hope, at the end of the year here -- a 100-plus point team. That earns him the right to get some consideration in my opinion."

Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi, who won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh last season, will obviously be an experienced asset on the blueline and guarding in the back with Doughty. Scuderi had a plus-16 rating this season.

On the other end of the ice, the Canucks' defensive line is about -- what else -- scoring. Christian Ehrhoff was the standout on the Canucks. He had a plus-36 rating and posted 44 points with 14 goals. Defenseman Alexander Edler put up 42 points as well.

While the Kings are skating healthy, notable Canucks defensemen are recoving from injuries. Shane O'Brien is coming back from a minor injury that caused him to miss two games and Sami Salo is rejoining the team after being out for unidentified personal reasons. Aaron Rome is still day-to-day.

The Deciding Factor

One analyst noted that the biggest factor in this series is how Luongo plays for the Canucks. The actual deciding factor is which Kings team shows up. If the Kings team that starts out strong and fades in the end takes the ice with a lackluster Quick between the pipes, the series will be over much faster than predicted. If the gritty, workman-like team that made it to the top of the Western Conference during the season skates out for the Kings, then the series will go all the way to Game 7.

See what happens Thursday at 7 pm on Fox Sports West.

Game 1 @ Vancouver Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m.
Game 2 @ Vancouver Saturday, April 17, 7 p.m.
Game 3 @ Los Angeles Monday, April 19, 7 p.m.
Game 4 @ Los Angeles Wednesday, April 21, 7 p.m.
Game 5 @ Vancouver Friday, April 23, 7 p.m.*
Game 6 @ Los Angeles Sunday, April 25, time TBD.*
Game 7 @ Vancouver Tuesday, April 27, time TBD.*
* if necessary.