Drew Doughty issues a warning to the Leafs before Tuesday's game; and it worked like a charm
The Maple Leafs were absolutely embarrassed on home ice last night by the Los Angeles Kings, there's just no two ways about it. While the Leafs outshot the Kings 30-27 in the contest, it was the Kings who dictated the pace of play, forced more turnovers and capitalized on their chances. At one point, the fans in attendance were even booing the Leafs no home ice.
The Kings came into Toronto with the right mindset, to capitalize on a team who had their guard down upon returning home after a successful 5-game road trip. The Kings had their way with the Leafs and it may have all started with some pre-game comments made by London, Ontario native Drew Doughty.
Prior to the start of last night's game, Doughty had met with the media in Toronto to discuss the game. Among the questions he was asked was about the Leafs' top players adapting to new penalty killing roles. He was probed for comments about Matthews and Nylander being added to the PK in hopes of creating some scoring chances while down a man. Doughty, completely unphased, took the opportunity to send a message to the Leafs, rather than answering the question.
In saying these things, Doughty was making it less about how the Kings were going to respond to the Leafs and more about how the Leafs were going to respond to the Kings. He established right out of the gate that if the Leafs were going to have success last night, they were going to have to earn it. They were going to have to dig deep, fight through and overcome adversity - because the Kings were prepared to do just that.
In the end, it was the Kings who had the success in the game. They skated harder, won more puck battles, created more chances and didn't give the Leafs anything easy. The Leafs could learn a thing or two from that game, really - and from Doughty as well.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 1 | 229 ANSWERS Drew Doughty issues a warning to the Leafs before Tuesday's game; and it worked like a charm Do you think Drew Doughty's pre-game comments got in the Leafs' heads last night? | ||
| Yes | 68 | 29.7 % |
| No | 102 | 44.5 % |
| God, I wish he was a Leaf | 59 | 25.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
