WORKING LATE
Loss of Doughty to suspension leaves Kings fit to be tied
LAS VEGAS — It’s impossible for the Kings to replace Drew Doughty and all that he does. He’s their emotional leader, their most durable and talented defenseman and an offensive sparkplug, in addition to being the NHL’s ice-time leader during the regular season. He’s a big-game player, and they missed him in their biggest game this season.
With Doughty serving a one-game suspension Friday for what the league’s Department of Player Safety ruled was an illegal blow to the head of Las Vegas forward William Carrier during the Golden Knights’ series-opening victory on Wednesday,
the Kings had no choice but to piece together their defense without him. And in every sense “piece together” describes what they had to do, given that they also had to go without injured regulars Derek Forbort and Jake Muzzin.
“He’s the best defenseman in the world so you’re not going to replace him with one player,” winger Dustin Brown said before the game, “but it’s a good thing there’s six guys on the ice at a time.”
The Kings needed every ounce of effort from all six on the ice at any given time Friday — and especially a spectacular performance by goaltender Jonathan Quick — to take the game into overtime tied at 1-1 at T-Mobile Arena.
Like so many visitors to Las Vegas, the Kings could have lost big on Friday. Their play in their own end was often chaotic. They gave the puck away too much. They were outshot. And the inexperience of Stanley Cup playoff rookies Kevin Gravel, Paul LaDue and Oscar Fantenberg was painfully obvious in the early going against the opportunistic and speedy Golden Knights.
Gravel struggled but LaDue scored the goal that brought them even in the second period on a long shot that deflected off a Vegas defender; Dion Phaneuf energetically blocked shots; and Alec Martinez was his usual steady self, blocking six shots and playing a teamhigh 37 minutes and 25 seconds through the first 20minute overtime period.
The Kings learned Thursday afternoon they wouldn’t have Doughty for Game 2. Their objections to the ruling made no difference.
“In my opinion, Drew Doughty is the best player at his position in the world and he defended that play exactly the way we would expect him to defend that play,” Coach John Stevens said Friday morning. “And the other thing I’ll say to that is as long as I’m on Earth, I’ll agree to disagree with that decision.”
Stevens then dipped into the Darryl Sutter sarcasm barrel when he was asked how he planned to deal with Doughty’s absence.
“The staff got together after the announcement and what we decided to do is when the game starts tonight, we’re going to put two [defensemen] on the ice,” he said with a straight face. “We get a power play or a penalty kill, we’ll put two D on the ice.
“We checked with the league and we’re pretty sure that they’re going to keep the puck the same size and Vegas is only going to be allowed to put five guys on the ice. Unless they pull their goalie, they can put a sixth attacker on the ice. So I think we’re good to go.”
They weren’t at their best, but it was the best they could do in a depleted state and against a fast team that fed on the home crowd’s energy.
“I mean, he’s obviously a big part of this team but stuff like that happens,” center Anze Kopitar said Friday morning. “I think each and every one of us in here is going to have to step up and give it a little extra to fill in those shoes. They’re big shoes to fill, but we also have all the confidence in the guys in the room that can do it.”
As this group of Kings learned during previous playoff journeys — most notably the long, hard trek 26 postseason games to win the Cup in 2014 — adversity often is only a deflection or bad bounce or NHL suspension away. Martinez said he expected his teammates to rise to the challenge of playing without Doughty in a pivotal game, one that he called a must-win.
As they went deeper and deeper into sudden-death play Friday, they relied on their resolve and the memories of those past playoff triumphs. They will welcome Doughty back to the lineup Sunday and they will be stronger.
But they’ll also have to find a way to get to Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after scoring only one goal in the first seven periods of a series that could slip from their grasp, if they don’t make their home ice as big an advantage as the Golden Knights made it in the first two games here.