With two more assists on Wednesday night, Kings defenseman Drew Doughty has now run his season totals up to 27 points in 32 games played. Most likely, what he really wanted to find in San Jose were some wins. Instead, the Sharks took both games in their two-game series, including a 4-2 victory in their latest meeting. They’ll meet again next week for two more, before eventually finishing their 8-game season series on April 9-10.
After the game, Doughty shared the following thoughts:
On if the two early third period goals were deflating
They were definitely a little bit deflating. We kind of had the momentum going into the third. In the second we gave up way too many odd man rushes, so we were pretty disappointed in ourselves about that. Giving up two, first one was pretty unlucky, no one knew where the puck was, we thought it went out of play, then they get a tip goal. Then the other one, we’ve got to make a better play. It’s definitely deflating, that can’t happen in any period let alone the third.
On if the back-to-back losses are more disappointing given the high number of chances the Kings had
Yeah, it’s disappointing for sure. San Jose’s a good team. I believe we can win every game, but this is a series before we started, I really believed we could win, I believed that we could outplay them. We did at times, but we just didn’t get the job done. We seemed to hang around and play better when we’re playing the teams at the top of our division, which is not a good thing. We need to win these games; we want to make playoffs. No disrespect to San Jose, they’re a team that I think is more equal to us than a team like Colorado Vegas.
On his personal game tonight, and the defensive coverage that led to the first two San Jose goals
I don’t remember the first goal already. I don’t think I was out there, but I was definitely out there for the [Evander] Kane goal. We had a great chance going forward, I think it was [Alex] Iafallo, but they made a good play. When you have a good chance, the forwards aren’t going to start cheating back right off the bat and think defense, forward’s job is always been and always will be to score. We have to do a better job; we can’t allow 4-on-2 rush, that’s for sure. At the same time, we’re trying to get a chance. Me and Mikey [Anderson], it’s tough to play a 4-on-2, we’d like to have that one back, maybe play it a little differently to give Cal [Petersen] a better chance. Personally, I thought I played a really good game tonight, I felt good. I was trying to get us back in the game. It helps, I look a lot better out there when the other teams sitting back with the 4-1 lead, so that played a part in it.
More postgame comments linked below.
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Lead photo via Getty Images / LA Kings
All’s good with Drew’s numbers, but he’s got a reserve tank of greatness that I believe he’s not aware be has. It’s about making every second count! Drew, channel the Bobby Orr within you!!!