LOS ANGELES — Drew Doughty is day to day because of a lower-body injury that kept the defenseman out of the Los Angeles Kings‘ 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.
Doughty missed the first 47 games after breaking his left ankle in a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 25. He made his season debut on Jan. 29, returning in time to be a late addition to join Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Doughty, 35, has one goal and three assists in eight games this season. He is averaging 25:55 of ice time and had played at least 21 minutes in every game.
While Doughty sat out of the nationally televised contest, the Canucks got star defenseman Quinn Hughes back after missing six games because of an undisclosed injury.
Hughes went through a strenuous morning skate to see if he was ready to play for the first time since Jan. 31. He was back on the ice for pregame warmups but did not take line rushes and stayed on the ice after the horn. After initially being listed on the roster report as out, Hughes was the last player to take the ice, with the Canucks dressing seven defensemen.
“I can say I didn’t feel my best tonight, but I got through the game and hopefully can build off that,” he said.
Hughes made an impact Wednesday night, assisting on Conor Garland‘s winning goal and having nearly 22 minutes of ice time.
“He’s the leader in the room and on the ice,” Garland said. “Obviously a big, big boost for us when we saw he was playing.”
Hughes initially was listed as out on the roster report, but he convinced coach Rick Tocchet he could play. Hughes was changed to active eight minutes before the opening faceoff and was the last player to take the ice, with the Canucks going with seven defensemen.
“With 11 minutes left, we had a little bit of a talk and he persuaded me,” Tocchet said. “He said he wanted to play and the doctors thought it was safe.”
Tocchet said the original plan was for Hughes to play 16 to 17 minutes. With the game going to overtime, though, it ended up being 21:38.
“I think with the back-to-back games and coming off the injury, I have got to be a little bit careful,” Hughes said. “I think I just felt good enough in warmups where I felt like I could play smart and get through the game.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.