of the Kings, he struggled to score in the first half of the season. Head coach Terry Murray was fired midway through the season, and as the Kings fell further out of the playoff picture, they were rumored to be listening to trade offers for Brown. New head coach Darryl Sutter called the Brown-Kopitar tandem "stale" and said Brown was not playing the "straight-line, up-and-down, go-to-the-net, shoot-the-puck, run-over-people" style Brown needed to be effective. Brown's scoring pace picked up amidst the trade rumors, and he scored three goals and an assist in the last game before the NHL trade deadline, a 4–0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kings retained Brown, who responded with 11 points in the 9 games following the trade deadline. Brown later said he was playing with "a chip on his shoulder" and "whether those rumors are true or not, they're still out there, it gives you maybe a bit more motivation". With Brown producing and the trade-deadline acquisition of Jeff Carter, the Kings were one of the highest-scoring NHL teams down the stretch and made the playoffs as an eighth seed. After moving up-and-down the lineup for most of the year, Brown found stability playing on the first line with Anže Kopitar and Justin Williams. That line would remain intact throughout the entire 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. Brown recorded four goals and one assist in the first round against the first-seeded Vancouver Canucks, including two shorthanded goals in a 4–2 Game 2 win. Brown is the first and only player as of 2022 with two shorthanded goals in a playoff game. In Game 3, he delivered a devastating open-ice check to Canucks captain Henrik Sedin directly in front of the Canucks' bench. The hit left Sedin dazed on the ice for several seconds. Brown later scored the game-winning goal in the third period. Many observers, including TSN's Bob McKenzie and Sports Illustrated''' Michael Farber, called the hit the decisive moment in the series. The Kings upset the heavily favored Canucks in five games, and then recorded the first sweep in franchise history over the St. Louis Blues. Brown registered two goals and four assists in the series. Both of his goals came in the decisive Game 4, a 3–1 Kings victory. The Kings then beat the Phoenix Coyotes in five games in the Western Conference Finals. Brown scored the game-winning goal in Game 1 of