Out with the old and in with the new. Or something like that. On Wednesday afternoon we first started to get word that Nicklas Lidstrom, the best defenseman in the NHL over the past two decades, would be calling it a career.
Later that night one of the young defenseman that has a chance to take over his throne at the top of the NHL for the next decade (or more) was making a pretty big statement in his first ever Stanley Cup Final game.
To look at the box score you will see that Kings defenseman Drew Doughty had an assist and recorded one shot on goal in their 2-1 overtime win. Not a bad night on the surface, but nothing that really jumps off the page at you. But that doesn't even begin to tell how much of an impact he made during his 28 minutes on the ice.
He was a difference-maker, and as it turns out, one that probably snuck under the radar a little given the way the game was played and how it came to an end (on a beautiful goal from Anze Kopitar).
It wasn't so much what Doughty himself did, but what he (along with his defensive partner, Rob Scuderi) prevented the Devils top forwards from doing.
Doughty played over 25 minutes at even-strength on Wednesday, and during that time the Kings were able to completely dictate the pace of the game and shut down the Devils.
Not only did both of Los Angeles' goals come with Doughty on the ice (he was on the ice for none against), but the Kings were able to outshoot New Jersey 12-5 during that time. To get an even bigger look at the territorial edge the Kings had when Doughty was on the ice he finished with a Corsi rating of plus-15 (which means the Kings attempted 23 shots to just eight for the Devils when Doughty was on the ice). And that's a good way to win hockey games, especially when your top defenseman is able to do that against the best and most dangerous players on the opposing team.
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Most of his shifts on Wednesday went against some combination of the Devils' top forwards, including Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. Between them they recorded just four shots on goal -- three for Parise and one for Kovalchuk -- and only one of them came when they were matched up on the ice against Doughty.
That was a backhand shot recorded by Parise from 10-feet out early in the third period.
Other than that? Nothing. And it's not like we're talking about a small sampling of ice time. During 17 of his 25 minutes of even strength ice-time he was going up against at least one of Parise or Kovalchuk.
During his meeting with the media on Thursday Devils coach Pete DeBoer was asked if he would try to focus on getting Kovalchuk away from Doughty. It's a strategy that would be easier said than done given the number of minutes Doughty plays on a given night.
"No," said DeBoer. "Doughty is going to play as much as he has to play. There's no getting away from that. We can't focus on that. This time of year, you've got to play head-to-head against good players and you've got to win those battles. That's the bottom line."
In Game 1 it was Doughty that ended up winning those battles, and it went a long way toward the Kings winning the game.
Photo: Getty Images
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