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Kings’ Doughty on goalless drought: ‘It’s in my head’

DrewDoughty

A three-time 10-goal scorer that racked up a career-high 16 in 2009-10, Drew Doughty’s never had problems putting pucks in the net.

As such, one can understand his current level of frustration.

The LA Kings blueliner is goalless in 21 games this season and on Friday admitted the slump is getting to him.

“It’s frustrating, obviously,” Doughty told NHL.com. “It’s in my head too often. I want to get that goal really bad.”

While it’s not the first time he’s fallen into an early-season scoring funk -- he only had two goals through 21 games last year -- it’s the first time he’s failed to find the back of the net entirely, which is understandably maddening.

This is the same guy, after all, that scored 33 goals over his final two years with Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League.

That said, Doughty insists he won’t go chasing that elusive first tally.

“I’m still just playing my solid defensive game and if I have that opportunity, I’ll try to put one in the net,” he explained. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, but the coaches are happy with the way I’m playing.

“If I don’t score a goal and we’re winning, it really doesn’t matter.”