A different look on defense

Coming into the game against Nashville, the Kings knew they would be without defensemen Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell, so Terry Murray drew up a plan. The Kings practiced Wednesday, and in Thursday’s morning skate, with three pairs set up. Then the Kings came out for last night’s game with a completely different look. Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson started a game together for the first time since last season’s playoffs. Rob Scuderi paired with rookie Alec Martinez while Davis Drewiske paired with Peter Harrold.

Doughty and Johnson each played approximately 23 minutes and each had a plus-3 rating. Doughty had one goal and one assist and Johnson had three shots on goal, three hits and one blocked shot. What led Murray to make the late change?

MURRAY: “We just decided that before the game, actually, when I did the lineup card. We talked for about eight minutes or so, before that. We kind of arrived at (the idea that) this would be a good pair for us, with the matchup. They had Weber and Suter on their back end, and we could maybe match our two top guys out there at the same time. So it was a quick decision and it worked out pretty well. I liked what I saw with those D pairs tonight.”