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Brown on handshake line: “I’m moving on”

Dustin Brown

Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown is a do-everything player, but one of those “things” involves getting under his opponents’ skin. No time was that more prominent than during (or should I say, after) Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, when his controversial hit on Michal Rozsival prompted an unusually tense handshake line. Brown is doing something that the Phoenix Coyotes understandably couldn’t do right after it happened: he’s letting it go.

Brown told Rich Hammond that he’s giving the Coyotes “the benefit of the doubt.”

“I know it’s an emotional game and (the loss) just happened. You give them the benefit of the doubt,” Brown said. “But I was a little surprised at the time. Did it affect me after the game? No. I play the game hard, and I thought it was a clean hit and that’s it. I’m moving on. Again, it happened so quick for them, so I like to give them the benefit of the doubt on the emotional level. It’s an emotional game out there, and stuff happens.”

It’s understandable that Brown is taking the high road. He’s the Kings’ leader, he won’t face a suspension for that check and his team won. It’s pretty tough to imagine him blasting the Coyotes in the press considering those circumstances.

That doesn’t mean he’s likely to get a very friendly reception next time he plays against Shane Doan & Co., though.