Drew Doughty believes a group of Los Angeles Kings are prioritizing individual success over the team amid a miserable skid in which the club has lost 12 of their past 14 games.
"I think we got guys in this room who are too worried about themselves, and worried about their points, and worried about stuff like that," Doughty said after Wednesday's loss, per TSN. "We get a 3-1 lead tonight, and guys start thinking it's a cookie night. We stopped playing the way we know how to play, have an awful second period, then aren't much better in the third. It's about the team, it's not about yourself, and a lot of guys on this team need to realize that."
The Kings allowed four unanswered goals to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday to lose for the fourth time in their last six games following an eight-game losing streak.
"It's felt like the bottom-out for a while now," Doughty said. "It's frustrating not getting these wins. We're trying to stay positive, we're trying to get back to having fun out there and play our game, but it's hard to do that when you're on a streak like this. This has been a struggle for us, and the only way we're going to get out of it is if we get everybody's 100% effort, everyone playing for the team and each other."
Los Angeles' struggles, combined with the Edmonton Oilers' 14-game win streak, has dropped the Kings into the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference after owning a Pacific Division seed for much of the season.
The Kings are now two points back of the Oilers with an extra game played and are 13 points behind the first-place Vancouver Canucks.
Los Angeles' next game comes Friday against the Colorado Avalanche.
Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.