Doughty update

While the Kings sat on a cramped bus in their hockey gear this afternoon, Drew Doughty was at the dentist. Advantage, other Kings. Doughty chipped a couple teeth last night when the puck hit him in the mouth, and he didn’t practice today but is expected to play tomorrow with some type of shield protection. Here’s what Terry Murray said after practice today…

MURRAY: “I talked to the trainer this morning. (Doughty) is over at the dentist getting some work done, and everything seems to be moving along fine. There’s no issue. He will have that shield put on and he will be in the lineup tomorrow. It’s an unfortunate hockey injury, but I was really happy to see him come back and play. That’s a great attitude for a young player to show. He didn’t even go down on the play, for crying out loud. It’s pretty amazing that he dealt with it as well as he did. He will be ready to go tomorrow.”

It’s only fair, after the criticism Doughty took after the first game, to point out that Saturday’s game was probably his best of the season. That’s not even taking into account the fact that he missed half of the second period and played the third period with a bloody mouth. I thought Murray had an interesting take on Doughty’s play, and the play of the defense in general…

MURRAY: “I think as our group of defensemen, it was their best game, but I’ve got to really give the compliment to the tracking forwards. I thought the forwards were outstanding. They really worked hard to get back to `home plate,’ everybody had sticks on the ice and were strong in front of the net, and when everybody is working for each other like that, the individual defensemen look good, and as a group they look very good. Doughty, in particular, had a solid effort. He came back from that injury and it looked like he hadn’t missed one step in what he wanted to do. He was confident, handling the puck and was ready to go.”