LOS ANGELES -- Give round four of the “Freeway Faceoff” to the home team as the Los Angeles Kings hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
Drew Doughty blasted home his fifth goal of the year and Mike Richards added his 11th for all the offense the Kings would need.
For Doughty, give him six points in six games against Anaheim as well as six points for the Kings in as many games.
“Yeah I feel good and for a little bit there I got taken off the first PP unit," said Doughty. "I think Darryl is kind of trying to teach me a little lesson that it just doesn’t come, you got to do something to have the privilege to be on the power play unit, so obviously I was frustrated at the time that I wasn’t on it, so when he finally gave me my chance, I think I made a pretty good opportunity of it and that’s where you get your points as a defenseman on a power play.
"He’s a good player. He’s up for the Norris almost every year. That’s what you get when you have a great player like Doughty. His goal tonight went in off two legs but when you’re hot like Drew those shots have a way of finding the back of the net,” said Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau.
It should come as no surprise that Doughty’s success has coincided with the Kings acquisition of defenseman Robyn Regher.
The tough and rugged defenseman that Kings GM Dean Lombardi acquired in a trade deadline deal from the Buffalo Sabres has been paired with Doughty, allowing Drew to focus more on his offensive game.
“(Regehr) solid defensively, he’s always going to be back there for me. Throughout the season I played pretty much with everyone and for the most part besides Scuderi, all of the other guys are kind of more offensive guys, so I’ve kind of had to take on that role as more of a defensive guy, but now that Robyn’s my partner and here with the Kings I can take more chances offensively,” Doughty said.
For the Ducks, this concludes a week that saw them score four goals in three games, leaving Boudreau wondering what has happened to his once potent offense.
“We had chances to take the lead. We had chances to tie it up. We just didn’t get it done. We aren’t scoring any goals. Look at the numbers of the guys who haven’t scored in a long time now. What was our strength at the beginning of the year was that everybody was scoring and now it is a weakness because nobody is scoring. To win hockey games you have to score goals,” Boudreau said.
Next up for the Kings is a date at the Shark Tank in San Jose to face the Sharks on Tuesday, while the Ducks have some time to figure out how to find the back of the net as they are off until Wednesday when Columbus visits Honda Center.
