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Kings’ Doughty, Quick, Flyers’ Giroux finally make preseason debut

Los Angeles Kings v San Jose Sharks

Drew Doughty

Getty Images

Tuesday night was a time when some of the NHL’s biggest stars finally got into a preseason game after being held back due to their respective injuries.

Claude Giroux suffered what’s believed to be a groin injury at the start of training camp, but logged 16:53 minutes against the New York Rangers last night. It’s a good thing he managed to get some preseason ice time because he needed the opportunity to shake off the rust.

“I forgot how fast the game is,” Giroux said, per the Philadelphia Daily News. “The first period, I was pretty lost. I wasn’t sure what was going on. Slowly, I got the puck moving. It was good to get a game under my belt. I felt good.”

On the plus side, his injury didn’t bother him.

On the other side of the country, the Los Angeles Kings got defenseman Drew Doughty (upper body) and goaltender Jonathan Quick (wrist) back for an exhibition contest versus the San Jose Sharks. Both players were actually cleared ahead of Sunday’s game, but Kings coach Darryl Sutter decided to wait until last night to use them.

Unlike Giroux, who had his ice time purposely limited, Doughty wasn’t eased into the lineup. He scored a power-play goal and logged a team-high 22:55 minutes.

“I felt good physically and mentally, and it was a good game by the whole team,” Doughty told LA Kings Insider.

Quick stayed between the pipes for the first two periods and turned aside 16 of 17 shots. The Kings still have two preseason games left on their schedule and Quick is expected to get a full start in at least one of them.

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