LAS VEGAS — William Carrier is glad Drew Doughty hit him in the head.
Doughty, not so much.
"I think it’s BS, it’s awful," the Los Angeles Kings defenceman said Friday morning about the one-game suspension he received for his glancing head-shot two nights earlier on the Vegas Golden Knights forward. "Watching the games last night, I guess (the National Hockey League) has four or five more to give."
Doughty was referring to the league’s disciplinary hearing with Toronto Maple Leafs’ Nazem Kadri for his atrocious hit Thursday night on Boston Bruins forward Tommy Wingels.
Kadri should be suspended for multiple games after purposefully driving Wingels’ head into the boards while the Bruin was already on his knees. And most people in hockey outside of Los Angeles would agree Doughty deserved a game for shouldering Carrier in the head during the third period of the Kings’ 1-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 on Wednesday.
"I think most of the people who have seen the hit thought it was a one-game suspension," Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "I’d be surprised if people were really upset that he got suspended one game. It’s early in the playoffs, it’s a suspendable hit and one game is fair."
Carrier will play Game 2 Friday night at T-Mobile Arena, and Doughty won’t.
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But that’s not why Carrier was glad Doughty drilled him. The Knights fourth-liner was relieved the victim wasn’t a player from higher up the Vegas lineup.
"It was kind of lucky it was me, to be honest with you," Carrier, who averaged 8:50 of ice time this season on Vegas’ fourth line, said after the Knights’ morning skate. "We don’t want one of our top scorers to get one of those kinds of hits. It was just a fast play; not a dirty play at all.
"He gets me in the head and you get a little sore. But that’s it. You get back up and get back to it."
Carrier said Doughty’s hit could have been on anyone, but we’re not so sure.
The Knights’ fourth line — Carrier with Tomas Nosek and Pierre-Edouard Bellmare — was probably Vegas’ best trio in Game 1.
Carrier was credited with 10 hits in the game, although that figure was surely inflated by off-ice officials who somehow saw 127 official "hits" in a game that was no more physical than your average playoff contest. Perhaps the guy tracking hits was a pacifist.
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But Carrier’s line did play a physical game, and it was his big hit on L.A. defenceman Christian Folin that created the turnover that led to Shea Theodore’s goal. Bellemare appeared to deflect the defenceman’s shot but was not awarded the goal. Presumably, he was credited with a hit.
The Knights also targeted Doughty, just like every team targets the opponent’s top defenceman.
"I think our line will try to bring the same thing tonight," Carrier said. "Anyone they put back in their lineup will be fabulous. Obviously, (Doughty) plays 30 minutes a game, so they’ll adjust for that. But it’s going to be the same game out there."
Gallant liked his fourth line so much on Wednesday that he played Bellmare 14:05, and Nosek 13:22. Carrier, who did not kill penalties and left the game after Doughty’s unpenalized hit halfway through the third period, finished with 8:49 of ice time.
"A lot of times, I’ll put them on the ice against the other team’s No. 1 line," Gallant said. "So I trust them. They compete and they battle. Last game, I think they played an exceptional game. They’re really important to me."
Vegas winger David Perron took the morning skate but still hasn’t been cleared to play after a suffering an undisclosed injury on March 26.
