First came the pomp, then the circumstance for Dustin Brown.
It took most of Thursday for the Kings to shake out of what looked like a stale loss to the Colorado Avalanche, on a night of career achievements for Brown and Marian Gaborik.
But Brown brought it to a happy end and put a bow on a 2-1 overtime win at Staples Center. He took a pass from Anze Kopitar and, on a partial breakaway 44 seconds in, snapped the puck past goalie Semyon Varlamov for the game winner in his 1,000th game.
“In the big picture, it’s really nice,” Brown said.