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Drew Doughty, Team Canada advance to 4 Nations Championship Game

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Another chance to play for a gold medal for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty.

With today’s 5-3 victory over Team Finland, Doughty and the Canadians advanced to Thursday’s championship game in Boston, where they will rematch against the United States. The Americans defeated Team Canada on Saturday in Montreal and will now host the second meeting on home soil at TD Garden in Massachusetts, with Doughty and his teammates now on the visiting end of the rivalry.

Doughty has the opportunity here to add to his ever-growing list of international accolades.

In now the last six tournaments he’s represented Team Canada, he’s reached the gold-medal game. He has been victorious in four of the first five, including gold medals at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, as well as at the Olympic Winter Games in 2014 and 2010, his first three tournaments that were either best-on-best or close to it. Doughty also reached the gold-medal game at the 2009 IIHF World Championships, where he and Team Canada fell short by a goal versus Team Russia, as well as the 2008 World Juniors, when he and his teammates won gold in overtime versus Sweden, on route to being named as the tournament’s best defenseman.

This time around, Doughty wasn’t necessarily in the starring role he’s accustomed to, though his involvement in the tournament grew as the event went on. In the opening game versus Sweden, Doughty played 18:54, a clear fifth among the five defensemen who played the entire game, after his partner, Shea Theodore, left early due to injury. Doughty’s role increased significantly in the second game versus the United States, as he logged 21:15 in the 3-1 defeat, finishing second only to Josh Morrissey in terms of total ice time among the defensemen.

While it was the lone blemish for the Canadians as a team, the loss against Team USA was probably Doughty’s best game on an individual note. He tallied his first point of the tournament, an assist, on Connor McDavid’s game-opening goal, the only goal that his team would score on the evening. If you buy into these sorts of things, The Athletic’s model had Doughty as Team Canada’s most effective player against the United States.

Per the above model, Doughty had his team’s best offensive rating and second best defensive rating, behind only Morrissey, throughout the course of the game versus the USA.

Against Finland on Monday, in a win-or-go-home situation, Doughty’s role took a slight step back, with number-one defenseman Cale Makar back in the lineup for Team Canada. Still, he logged just shy of 19 minutes, fourth most on the Team Canada blueline. Pretty early on, the game felt close to decided, with the Canadians opening up a 4-0 lead, as the minutes were well-balanced on the blueline overall. Doughty was on the ice for McDavid’s game-opening goal and two of his team’s first four goals in total, as the Canadians opened up a commanding lead over Team Finland. He was also on the ice for two goals against in the third period, as Finland nearly completed the comeback to force the game into overtime, though an empty-net goal from Sidney Crosby sealed the victory. In total, Doughty’s metrics were solid. He was on the ice for two goals for and one against at 5-on-5, plus another against with the Finland net empty. With Doughty on the ice at 5-on-5, Canada controlled two-thirds of the shot attempts (14 for, 7 against). He was on the ice for 10 scoring chances for, tied for the most by any Team Canada player. Admittedly did not watch this game, traveling today, but the numbers looked quite strong.

Moving ahead, Doughty and his teammates will remain in Boston for Thursday’s championship game versus Team USA. Tonight’s game between the United States and Sweden will be a dead-rubber match, with the fate of both teams already decided. For Kings forward Adrian Kempe, tonight will be his final game of the tournament before he returns to his team, likely after a few additional days off. Kempe has had a strong tournament and was paired with Detroit’s Lucas Raymond on a line during yesterday’s practice. Looks to be in line for large role again tonight, though with Sweden already eliminated, I’d imagine they will make use of everyone in their final game.

Will catch up with Kempe this week when he returns to Kings practice and Doughty closer to the first Kings game after the break on Saturday, which will likely be his first day back with the club. For now, one more game of international hockey this week, with Doughty involved, before the stretch run begins. Kings are expected back for practice tomorrow afternoon, beginning a full week of team skates in El Segundo. Will have full coverage here as the Kings return to the ice, in preparation for a hot and heavy second half of the season. Sprint to the finish, considering the two-week break. Kings should be well rested and well prepared for the final 29 games of the season. More there in the coming days!

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