Los Angeles Kings Squeak out Win in Philly, but Lose Drew Doughty to Injury

It was a gritty and ugly win Saturday Night at Wells Fargo Center for the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings overcame an early injury to star defenseman Drew Doughty and a parade of penalties to take the bout 3-2 in overtime.

The action started early on when rookie Zac Rinaldo threw a big open ice hit on Drew Doughty just a minute and a half into the contest. Doughty would come back for just two shifts after the hit until retiring from the game.

Philadelphia took advantage of Kings penalty troubles, as Danny Briere tucked home a beautiful cross ice feed from Jaromir Jagr on the power play at 17:30 of the first. It would be short lived however, as the Kings power play turned the tables eight minutes later. Justin Williams took a feed from winger Simon Gagne into the slot and buried it high glove side on Ilya Bryzgalov.

The second period was dominated by good goaltending from both Jonathan Quick and Bryzgalov.

But with seven and a half minutes remaining in the third period, Justin Williams would net his second of the game as he showed superb patience and danced his way from the corner out into the slot, putting home his own rebound.

But with echoes of the Kings last season, the Flyers would grit their way back under a minute later. Allowing teams to crawl their way back into games plagued the Kings all of last season and reared its ugly head once again tonight for L.A. Matt Carle took a wide open weak side pass from James Van Riemsdyk and lifted it past a sprawling Quick.

The Kings would again benefit though from an all night penalty parade from both teams, as Van Riemsdyk took a tripping call with 20 seconds left in regulation.

The Kings made no mistake and capitalized when Mike Richards completed a nice homecoming by hooking up again with Jack Johnson for the overtime winner. 



My three Stars:

 *Jack Johnson   **Danny Briere   ***Anze Kopi...

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