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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: KINGS v DEVILSMay 29, 2012Drew DoughtyNEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Drew Doughty. Q. (No microphone.) DREW DOUGHTY: I guess so. I don't know how it's working. Q. Do you see the playoffs as a continuation of the regular season? DREW DOUGHTY: You mean as a team? Q. Just you personally. DREW DOUGHTY: I thought I struggled, you know, a little bit throughout the season. Played some good hockey towards halfway through the year. I think I carried that into playoffs. I feel good now. Playoffs is the most exciting time of the year. It's the time when you need your top players to step up to the plate in order to win series. I think I'm comfortable right now. I'm playing confident. Q. Specifically with goalies, when they get into a zone, they talk about pucks looking big. Are you at a point on the ice where everything seems to make natural sense? DREW DOUGHTY: Yeah, I think so. I think just in general, just because I'm playing with that confidence, you know, I'm able to make the plays that I'm able to make. The game is slowing down for me. I can see those seams open up, I can see plays developing before they happen. Even though I've been playing well, I think I still got a lot better to play. I think going into this last series, I got to be at my best in order for us to win.  I need to be even better. Q. With the way the team played through the regular season, what's the big change in the playoffs? DREW DOUGHTY: Everybody's just clicking. People are used to playing with their linemates now. The lines have been the same from the last part of the season. D pairings are the same. It's just getting used to them. Everyone is playing with confidence. Once you start clicking like that, pucks start going in the net for you. I think that's the biggest change from the regular season. Q. (No microphone.) DREW DOUGHTY: I think I definitely felt the pressure a little bit. Missing camp obviously wasn't a good thing. I wasn't happy I had to do that. Throughout the year I knew I had to live up to expectations. I signed the biggest contract on the team. If you're doing that, you have to be the best player on the team. I wanted to do that. I worked my hardest to do that. The pressure got to me and I wasn't myself. As the year went on, I started to put that in the back of my mind and kind of forget about it. I'm back to playing the way I can. Q. There's talk about similarities between the two teams. Do you see that? DREW DOUGHTY: Yeah. We're both really good teams from the back end out. Both goalies are two of the best goalies in the whole league. Both teams kind of have that defensive system they play. But at the same time, they jump on opportunities on turnovers to create offense. Both teams are going to work hard, finish checks, play hard in every area on the ice. I think it's going to be a real battle to try to win this series. Q. (No microphone.) DREW DOUGHTY: Yeah. We both kind of had subpar regular seasons. I think both teams have kind of got on a roll. Watching the New Jersey/Rangers series, I thought New Jersey just dominated them. You could just tell that everyone was clicking on the team, they felt good as a team. I think we kind of did the same thing. Like I said, it's going to be a tough match to beat these guys. Q. Was there anyone you leaned on or talked to, Dustin, anyone on the team that helped you get over the rough start? DREW DOUGHTY: I think I just took it upon myself. I didn't really lean on anyone for help or anything like that. I just figured it out that I needed to forget about it and just play the way I used to play, just kind of carefree, having fun out there. Once I started to have fun out there, that's when I hit my stride. Now I'm feeling good. Q. Do you almost expect adversity this season? DREW DOUGHTY: I think we've overcome a lot of adversity already. We took on the Western Conference first place, second place, third place team. That's no easy task. Maybe because we did make it happen so quick, only losing two games so far, it looks easy. But it wasn't easy. We played our hearts out. Every single guy played for the other guy beside them. It was a tough task to overcome. So I don't think it's been easy for us. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Drew Doughty. DREW DOUGHTY: There are times throughout the playoffs where teams dominated us for five minutes. They easily could have scored two or three goals in that five‑minute period, and he stood on his head and made those big saves at those key times. I think he kind of has gone where he hasn't been talked about. But we all know in that room that he's been a solid part to our team all year. Q. He comes a little bit surly with the media. What is he like? DREW DOUGHTY: He's awesome. Everyone on the team loves him. He's a calm guy, laid back. At the same time, he works so hard to be the goalie he is today. He wants it more than anyone. If he's letting in a goal, no matter what it is, it could be a back door tap‑in, he's telling his defense he should have had it. He always takes the blame as a D man. Q. (No microphone.) DREW DOUGHTY: I believe it. Kind of just wants to be a normal guy. Kind of wants to stay away from the media, stay away from all the attention, play hockey, do the thing he loves to do. He wants to play well for us, but I know he definitely doesn't want all the attention. Q. Is there a side to him we don't see? DREW DOUGHTY: I think so. I don't really watch his media conferences or anything like that. Off the ice he's a funny guy, a lot of fun to hang out with. I sat with him on the plane. Hang out with him all the time on the road. He's a good guy, a lot of fun. Q. What are you looking forward to most? DREW DOUGHTY: Right now I'm looking forward most to just starting that first game. It's been such a long time. We just can't wait to finally get things started. That first shift, the crowd's going to be going nuts and chills are going to be running through your body. Since you were a kid, obviously you visualize lifting that Cup over your head, when that final goal or final whistle is scored, returning to all your teammates and celebrating. Q. Do you feel the buzz in L.A. on the streets? DREW DOUGHTY: It's nuts. Q. Can you give me an example? DREW DOUGHTY: It's ridiculous. It's a complete 360.  I played in L.A. for four years now. My first three years, there wasn't a time when I was out for dinner, out anywhere, no one said anything. For example, this week, down where we all live, there's a big festival by the beach. There's tons of 'Kingsters', tons of Kings hats. When we were leaving dinner one night, the whole restaurant gave us a clap and started chanting our names. We're getting recognized everywhere we go. We're the talk of the city. It's great to see. Q. Has it been hard with the Lakers and the Dodgers? Did you almost feel like you were in the shadows? DREW DOUGHTY: I think we kind of were in the shadow. I think that was one thing that in a way we all kind of liked about playing in L.A., is that you could be a normal person, not have to walk around being recognized everywhere, having to talk about hockey all the time. But the team hasn't been a great team for so many years that you can kind of see why we were kind of in the shadow. Q. You don't blame the people of L.A.? DREW DOUGHTY: No. We still have those diehard fans who have been fans since day one. They've always showed that support and we love that. Now that we're winning, it seems like we're the talk of the city. It's amazing. Q. Is this a chance for hockey to elevate itself more in L.A.? DREW DOUGHTY: Yeah. In L.A., hockey's definitely not something‑‑ what do you do? Play for the Kings. Sacramento Kings. No one knows anything about hockey. It's a great thing that people are finally coming to games. There's so many times when I hear people telling me it's their first hockey game and they had so much fun. It's great that we can kind of put L.A. on the map as a hockey city. To come down here, have that rivalry with the East Coast, it's going to be great for hockey. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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