Last season, it took Colorado seven games to eliminate Los Angeles, and Kings captain Mattias Norstrom did such a number on Peter Forsberg that he lost his spleen. This season, Forsberg is out, and if he does come back, he won't be 100 percent. Milan Hejduk is also out. With them gone, Kings coach Andy Murray will have the luxury of being able to maneuver his talented bench to his advantage.

The biggest remaining obstacle to the Kings is Avs center and former Hart trophy winner Joe Sakic, and as far as obstacles go, he's huge. The Kings can't win the series without shutting down Sakic. In 2000, the Dallas Stars stifled Sakic and ousted the Avs in the Western Conference Finals. Last year, the Devils failed to contain him and the Avs beat them to the Cup.

The Kings are deep. They roll four solid lines of forwards and have six solid defensemen, which gives Murray quite a few options against a lethal scorer like Sakic. He can use Norstrom and his defensive partner, Philippe Boucher, or he can use his second defensive pairing of former Av Aaron Miller and Mathieu Schneider.

Jason Allison is the Kings top center, and if they want to win face-offs against Sakic, they will have to use him. But Allison lacks the foot speed to keep up with Sakic defensively. Eric Belanger has it, and so does defensive-minded Bryan Smolinski. Most likely, the Kings would give up the draw and use Smolinski to shadow Sakic in their defensive zone. Or, Murray could be crafty, put Allison out for the draws, and then change on the fly to match Smolinski with Sakic.

You can't talk about Los Angeles and Colorado without mentioning goaltending and special teams. After they shut down Sakic, the Kings still have to find a way to score on Patrick Roy, who gives the Avs a slight edge over everyone else on the planet. But Kings goalie Felix Potvin can be scary, too. He took the Avs to seven games last year in the second round, posting back-to-back shutouts in games five and six.

If the Kings are going to score, their top-ranked power play, anchored by the scoring touches of Zigmund Palffy, Allison and former-Av Adam Deadmarsh, is a good way to do it. But that Sakic character kills penalties, too, and with Rob Blake and Adam Foote, the Avs penalty killing unit is second only to Boston's. In four games this season, the Avs and Kings each won two, and each won on the other's ice.

As with all playoff match-ups, goaltending and special teams will matter. But, if the Kings can eliminate Sakic, they should be able to pull off an upset. If not, the Avs will be one step closer to a repeat of last year's Cup-clinching performance.

Lindsay Berra writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail her at lindsay.berra@espnmag.com.