But there’s one thing the Los Angeles Kings defenseman isn’t looking forward to when he takes on Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, BSW, ESPN+, SN NOW).
“I’m never looking forward to blocking his shot,” Doughty said Friday.
Third in NHL history with 782 goals, Ovechkin is known for his powerful slap shot and power-play one-timer for the Capitals, and Doughty had his share of the lead. In 19 regular season games against Washington, Doughty led Los Angeles with 31 blocked shots, including eight from Ovechkin, according to NHL Stats and Information.
But Doughty couldn’t play in any of the Kings’ games against the Capitals last season. -19 protocol. The Kings and Capitals did not face each other in 2020-21 when teams were limited to games within their divisions.
This will be Doughty’s first match against Ovechkin in over two and a half years.
“I missed it a lot,” Doughty said. “I was injured last year so I missed a lot of things about playing. I definitely missed playing against Ovi. We have good competitiveness with each other. We always run each other, try to hit us and stuff like that. He knows how much I care about playing defense and he loves scoring goals.
“So we obviously collide in those situations and we’re both determined to beat the other.”
Doughty, who won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2015-16, has an ability to produce offense, as evidenced by his 570 points (133 goals, 437 assists) in 1,020 regular season games during his 15 seasons in the NHL. . But he is also a tenacious defender who likes to play against the best attackers.
“I know he likes to score, I know he likes to set up plays and he would like to have good personal stats,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “But I think deep down he likes to compete and stop the best.”
A right-handed defender who plays on the right side, Doughty is often paired with Ovechkin, a left winger. In their last game against each other on Feb. 4, 2020, Los Angeles led 2-1 until Ovechkin scored three times in the 6:10 final to propel Washington to a 4-2 win. Doughty was on the ice for Ovechkin’s last two goals.
Ovechkin had 18 points (11 goals, seven assists) in 19 games against the Kings while Doughty was in the lineup. Curiously, the 37-year-old didn’t score any points in the two games against Los Angeles last season when Doughty was waived.
Still, Ovechkin finished the season with 50 goals, tying the NHL record with his ninth season of 50 goals and 90 points, his best since he had 109 in 2009-10.
He has five points (two goals, three assists) in five games this season.
“It doesn’t look like it’s getting old,” Doughty said. “He’s such a good player, always a physical player. … It’s always a challenge to play against him, and I’m excited for the opportunity. But we know we have to do it to win the game, so we will do everything we can to keep him off the scoresheet and try to knock him off his game.
“But it’s going to be a tough task. He’s a good team and he’s a great, great player. The League wouldn’t be the same without him.”
The Kings weren’t the same without Doughty last season, when he was limited to 39 regular season games due to injury and illness. That included missing the final 24 games of the regular season and losing the Kings in seven games to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs due to a wrist injury that required surgery. surgical.
Despite missing more than half of his games, Doughty led Kings defensemen with 31 points (seven goals, 24 assists) and led all of his skaters with an average of 25:44 of ice time. Doughty is back with heavy minutes this season, leading the NHL with an average ice time of 27:19, and he has three points (one goal, two assists) in six games.
“He means the world to our team,” McLellan said. “He is playing with so much enthusiasm and excitement. I felt he was almost a bit overexcited trying to make up for lost time. He settled in the last few games.”
Doughty acknowledged it was bittersweet to see the Kings advance to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2018 without him. But after a few tough rebuilding seasons, he’s determined to help them reach the playoffs again.
“I was excited to watch, I was in the game, but obviously I wanted to be there,” Doughty said. “I haven’t played playoff hockey in a while and this is the time I like to play, those big pressure situations. Yeah, I would have liked to play, but what can you do? I hopefully we get back to it this year and do better than we did last year.”
For now, the Kings (3-3-0) are focused on rebounding from a 6-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and wrapping up a five-game road trip in which they have a 3-1-0 record so far. But they know it won’t be easy against the Capitals (2-3-0), who lost 5-2 to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
“I think it’s a great road trip if we win four out of five games. It’s a really good road trip,” Doughty said. “But we’re not planning on going home right now. We’ve got a big game against Washington, and we didn’t perform well in the last game, so we’re going to come out hot, or that’s the whole plan. way, and have a great game.”
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