The Los Angeles Kings are the strongest third period team in the NHL, but on Saturday afternoon, you wouldn’t of thought that.
Up 3-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks with more than nine minutes to play, all-star defenceman Drew Droughty took a hooking penalty, voiced his displeasure with the officials and was then given an extra two-minutes for unsportsmanlike-conduct.
“Language, Drew!”
Check out how stoic the penalty box attendant stays during the outburst. Nothing to see here, folks.
Doughty is usually as cool as they come in the NHL with his laid back persona, but like many professional athletes, there’s a deep, passionate side that can get the best of him at times, and that was certainly on display for all the fans sitting in the vicinity of the penality box.
While we appreciate the fiery energy Doughty displayed, you can bet coach John Stevens will be having a word with him after the two penalties essentially opened the door for a Blackhawks comeback. Stevens spoke of the Kings undoing and sighted a lack of discipline as the reason why the Kings gave up the two points.
"The game totally got away from us in terms of discipline, right?" Stevens told Los Angeles Times reporter Curtis Zupke.
"You take an undisciplined penalty that ended up getting them back in the hockey game, and then you take a penalty 200 feet away from your net. If you can write a script for losing a hockey game, we just wrote it."
Artem Anisimov tallied for the ‘Hawks, the first of four straight goals to give Chicago a 5-3 come-from-behind victory. Vinnie Hinostroza, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored the rest of the goals.
Los Angeles sits third in the Pacific trailing the Sharks by one point with 77.
