Left-right looks all right to Kings

The Kings don’t intend to make any changes on the defensive pairs tonight, meaning Drew Doughty will stay with Willie Mitchell, Jack Johnson with Rob Scuderi and Alec Martinez with Matt Greene. That was the look for the three previous games, and Doughty, in particular, seems to be enjoying a bit of a resurgence, although in all fairness, his game seemed to be turning around while he was still paired with Scuderi. Of course, the Kings started the season with that Doughty-Mitchell look, before injuries forced them to move defensemen around, and today I asked Terry Murray if there was anything, in particular, about the Doughty-Mitchell look that made it work.

MURRAY: “What makes it work is whenever you can have a lefty-righty pair. Scuderi works really good with him, and Doughty enjoys playing with Scuderi as much as he does with Mitchell, and the same thing with Jack. They really love to play together also. But it’s important, I think, to have a lefty-righty. Scuds is the one player that is playing on his off side right now. He’s a veteran pro, and he has no problem with it. In fact, he probably gives us his very best as a left-side D also, but this is the way it is. But I don’t know if, with Mitchell and Doughty, if there’s any special chemistry there, or anything different than what we would get with Scuderi there. Maybe we will end up back with Jack and Doughty, some day, too, down the road. They’re dynamic, and they’re a pair that are young and can grow together. We’ll see how it plays out.”