LA Kings Drew Doughty

Drew Doughty made his highly-anticipated return to the LA Kings lineup in last night’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. The almost 32-year-old showed no need to ease back into things, logging 7:02 on-ice-time in the first period and pacing all skaters. However, you may have caught Doughty taking a big gulp of Pepto Bismol shortly into the game:

  • After the game, Doughty said that was he dealing with some butterflies leading up to his return:

“I was a little worried before our first couple of shifts, not going to lie. I haven’t been this nervous before a hockey game probably since my first NHL game, and tonight, I kind of thought that I haven’t had to play through an injury like this before. I had a little butterflies, but, no, it felt good after my first few shifts.”

  • Todd McLellan on his comfort level with Doughty’s game, especially in overtime:

“He’s good in that situation. We rolled two or three defensemen for a full five minutes, you rack up the minutes quite quickly there, but we were comfortable with him. We knew we would be and now it’s sustaining that once the wear and the tear gets back on the body.”

  • Carl Grundstrom‘s goal was disallowed after initially making it a one-goal deficit. McLellan said Kopitar did a great job of calming the bench down at that moment.

“Actually, I think that moment, that actually kept the momentum going for us, we can do this, it’s happening for us, let’s keep it going. Kopi did a good job, he made his rounds around the bench, let’s go, because you could feel it. He did a good job there too.”

  • ICYMI, Brendan Lemieux was suspended for five games. He will be eligible to return on December 11 against the Wild.

  • Around the league, Filip Forsberg scored goals on all four shots he took in the Predators’ 6-0 win over Columbus on Tuesday. Viktor Arvidsson‘s former teammate is now up to 10 goals and 15 points in 13 games played. The Kings will see Nashville again on January 6 at the newly-renamed Crypto.com Arena – I’m still going to call it STAPLES Center.
  • Last night was apparently a wild third period across the NHL. The Panthers scored four goals in the final frame, including Sam Reinhart‘s tally, with 14.4 seconds remaining in regulation to stun the Washington Capitals 5-4.
  • Straight from NHL Public Relations – Reinhart (59:45) became the fourth player to score a go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation this season, joining Ryan Lindgren (59:59 on Nov. 21 w/ NYR), Marcus Foligno (59:52 on Oct. 15 w/ MIN) and Morgan Rielly (59:48 on Nov. 13 w/ TOR).
  • Blues’ netminder Jordan Binnington allowed one of the oddest goals last night. Lightning’s Erik Cernak essentially dumped the puck into the attacking zone, but the puck took a weird bounce off the boards. Binnington wasn’t expecting it, and it snuck by him.

  • Kings defensive prospect Brock Faber was selected to Team USA’s preliminary roster for the 2022 World Juniors:

  • However, LA Kings 2021 8th overall pick Brandt Clarke is reportedly not being selected for Team Canada in what was the WJC shocker yesterday afternoon:

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2 thoughts on “Doughty Returns, Kopitar Settles, Filip Foursberg, and Other LA Kings Bullets”

  1. Not putting Brandt Clarke on Canada’s National Team is like leaving the cheese out of mac n cheese… I’m sure he’s disappointed but Canada will be more upset when they find their missing ingredient for gold was uninvited.

    Reply

    1. Considering they only have two right-shot defensemen in their camp, it’s puzzling just from a roster construction standpoint. Hopefully, Clarke uses it as motivation.

      Reply

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