Last season, Drew Doughty scored one goal over the final 20 regular season games.
And he hasn’t exactly lit up the scoreboard so far this year, recording only two goals through the first 20 games of the new campaign.
Just a few weeks ago, coach Terry Murray talked about being patient with his young defenseman, thinking perhaps he was pressing a bit after missing training camp.
Now, he’s ready for more.
“I want him to get going,” said Murray. “I want him to give us more on the back end. I think the pair, as they are today (Doughty and Jack Johnson), should be a pair that can really take on a lot of that responsibility – puck possession, creating opportunities for themselves and the line they’re on the ice with. I just think there is still a little bit of the hangover there from missing all of the training camp. Now, we’re 20 games in…it’s important that we find the answer and get him going. (We need) him to start getting pucks through, keep it simple, don’t push things – take a step back a little bit at times, getting the puck to a do a lot of the work for you. And I believe things will turn around with that.”
Then again, in one of those weird statistical things that make you scratch your head – the Kings are 1-4 in games where Doughty has a point this season.
However, from January 1st through the end of last season, the Kings went 12-3 when Doughty recorded a point in a game. That’s more like what you would expect.
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