Losing Drew Doughty to a one-game suspension essentially leaves the Kings down 2-0 before they play the second game of their Stanley Cup playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Kings have erased a deeper playoff deficit — they lost the first three games of their 2014 first-round series against San Jose before rallying to win the series — but after a narrowly losing a fast and physical game in which Doughty played a prominent role their prospects of pulling even before the series shifts to Los Angeles have taken a big blow.
The NHL's Department of Player Safety brought down its ever-unpredictable hammer on Doughty for what it called an avoidable hit to the head of Vegas forward William Carrier in the third period of the Golden Knights' 1-0 victory on Wednesday.