Dustin Brown's Grit Proves LA Kings Have What It Takes to Win the Stanley Cup

After Dustin Brown rocked Henrik Sedin's world with a clean forearm check in the second period of Game 3, Kings fans around the country were taken back 20 years to none other than Mark Hardy.

Hardy's hit on the Canadiens' Mike Keane in the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals sent Keane airborne horizontally and shattered the glass.

it is without a doubt one of the most memorable checks in NHL history.

Brown's hit on Sedin, which caused a stir in the Vancouver bench, was more than just a simple check—it was a statement. The Canucks came into the series as the Presidents' Trophy winners, while the Kings settled for the No. 8 seed after two heartbreaking losses to San Jose at season's end.

Hockey analysts across the country understandably didn't give the Kings much of a chance to make the series interesting, let alone win it.

Now Los Angeles is one game away from sweeping the top-seeded Canucks. 

Going into Game 3, Vancouver was in panic mode. Roberto Luongo was not at the top of his game by any means, whereas Kings goalie Jonathan Quick solidified his name as one of the NHL's elite and well deserving of the Vezina Trophy.

Quick has only allowed four goals in the series, including stopping all 41 of Vancouver's shots in the Kings' 1-0 win on Sunday night. He has been the anchor of the Kings all season long, keeping them in contention when they couldn't score a goal to save their lives. Now, he's the most popular player on the team.

Dustin Brown, meanwhile, has evolved into a big-game forward in the series.

His four goals—including his two short-handed scores in Game 2—have come at critical times of the series, and his hit on Sedin sent the sellout crowd at Staples Center into a frenzy.

With Daniel Sedin being out, seeing Henrik drop as hard as he did and struggle to regain his balance had to have been devastating for Canuck fans. 

It was similar to Darcy Tucker annihilating Sami Kapanen years ago when Kapanen needed assistance from his bench in order to find out who he was.

With the exception of the goal-friendly, punch-throwing series going on with the Flyers and the Penguins, the Kings' domination of the Canucks has been the biggest story of the 2012 playoffs.

Brown and Quick have been the two most important players for the Kings in this series, and with solid goaltending and scrappy forwards, Los Angeles has solidified itself as a serious contender for the Stanley Cup.

Unlike the 1993 Kings, perhaps this Kings squad can take it all and finally hoist their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Hardy would be proud.