Doughty’s numbers haven’t been there

To be certain, no single player deserves total blame for the Kings’ offensive struggles. That list is long and distinguished. But perhaps the most surprising name on the list is that of Drew Doughty. Two years ago, in his Norris Trophy finalist season, Doughty had 16 goals and 43 assists. Last season, he dipped to 11 goals and 29 assists. This season, he has two goals and six assists in 22 games. Projected over 82 games — which Doughty won’t get to — that’s seven goals and 22 assists. Doughty was asked about trying to generate more offense from the blue line.

DOUGHTY: “Every time I have the lane, I get the puck to the net. If there’s not a lane there, and guys are in my way, I’m not going to shoot the puck and get it blocked and have it go the other way. We’re all working on getting more shots to the net. It’s tough to get the puck to the net from the blue line, just because you’ve got to get through so many guys. Nowadays, everyone is blocking shots and defensemen are stepping up to block shots. So it’s a lot harder, but we’ll just continue to try to find ways to get pucks to the net.’’

To that end, Doughty has a strong point. His shot-on-goal total is right on pace with his career average, so in general that’s not really the problem. Whatever the issue is, the Kings need it corrected. At this point, rookie Slava Voynov has four goals, and all the other Kings defensemen have combined for 11 goals.

MURRAY: “It goes back years. The more you can have your defensemen join in the attack, the more successful you’re going to be. That’s secondary scoring. I think that those guys, the defensemen as a group, can be much more involved. There can be more delays. There can be more plays to the net. There are rebounds coming into the high slot. Again, that just goes back through the generations of the game. That’s where you have some players like a Bobby Orr, who had a tremendous impact on the game because of his offensive mentality.’’