Doughty & Kuemper Play For Gold, Armia For Bronze

Gold-Medal game bound!

After a comeback victory over Team Finland in the semifinals earlier today, Drew Doughty, Darcy Kuemper, Darren Granger and the rest of Team Canada will compete for another gold medal on Sunday morning.

Doughty played a smaller role in today’s victory than he has throughout the tournament. Doughty is in a defensive role with Team Canada and has been the de-facto number-four defenseman in the bulk of the games they’ve played thus far. With Team Canada trailing 2-0 early in the game, the first time in the tournament they’ve been down by multiple goals, Doughty saw his role reduced, with the team’s puck movers given more minutes as the Canadians frantically came back to flip 2-0 down into 3-2 ahead. Doughty played 6:27 in total and was not on the ice for a goal in either direction. Darcy Kuemper did not feature in goal, with Jordan Binnington the starting netminder for the Canadians throughout the tournament. The Kings duo, along with equipment manager Darren Granger, will be involved in Sunday’s gold-medal game against either Team USA or Team Slovakia, with the second semifinal matchup set to begin in a couple of hours.

A victory for Team Canada means a defeat for forward Joel Armia and Team Finland. Armia went down swinging in the semifinals, as he has all tournament. He collected his fifth point in five games, as he had the only assist on teammate Erik Haula’s shorthanded goal in the second period. Armia is one of the NHL’s best players while shorthanded and made his presence known, as he made a good defensive play along the wall, helping to strip the puck free from Canadian forward Sam Reinhart, before he got a clear on the backhand, catching two additional Canadian players skating the wrong way. The clearance sprang Haula on a breakaway, which he buried, to put Team Finland ahead 2-0 in that moment. Unfortunately, that was the last goal Team Finland scored, as they allowed three unanswered goals in the 3-2 defeat, though Armia certainly felt one of those goals should not have counted.

For Armia, his tournament with Team Finland concludes tomorrow in the bronze-medal game, against the loser of the game later on today between Team USA and Team Slovakia. Armia has five points (2-3-5) in five games played, tied for second on his team in scoring to this point, behind only Mikko Rantanen of the Dallas Stars. Armia and his teammates will have the opportunity to compete for a medal after a valiant showing in the semifinals. Finland has collected a medal in four of the five tournaments involving NHL players, the most among any nation in the first five tournaments under those conditions. Armia will have an opportunity to contribute towards that number tomorrow, with the bronze-medal game getting underway at 11:40 AM Pacific time.

Tomorrow will be the final day off for Team Canada before competing in the gold-medal game on Sunday. An early start for those of us on Pacific time, at 5:10 AM, but for the first gold-medal game between NHL players in 12 years, that one might just be worth the early alarm. It’ll be Drew Doughty’s third gold-medal game and an opportunity for him to become the first NHL player in history to win three gold medals at the Olympics. Forward Sidney Crosby would join him in that honor, whether he plays or not, but the veteran Pittsburgh forward missed today’s semifinal matchup due to injury.

Kings Medal Round Schedule
Bronze Medal Game (Armia) – Saturday, 2/21 at 11:40 AM Pacific
Gold Medal Game (Doughty, Kuemper, Granger) – Sunday, 2/22 at 5:10 AM Pacific

The bronze-medal game is scheduled to be broadcast on USA Network, while the gold-medal game is scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC.

One potential storyline to watch for, from an LA Kings perspective, is that first game back coming out of the break. Doughty and Kuemper are involved in Sunday’s gold-medal game and there are only two days in between that game and the NHL’s return to play on February 25. However, it’s the Kings’ opponent on that night with more to worry about, as forwards Mitch Marner and Mark Stone, as well as defenseman Shea Theodore are also on Team Canada. If Team USA advances as well, that contingent would also include forward Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin. Would assume that all of those players would play, unless we hear otherwise, but just something to keep in mind as the players have a long flight back from Italy, with just a little bit of time to recover and get ready to go in that Los Angeles/Vegas game on the 25th.

Kings are on the ice here shortly, with the same group as yesterday likely expected at Toyota Sports Performance Center. Not expecting forward Adrian Kempe back with the team for today’s practice, with eyes on either Sunday’s practice or Tuesday’s practice before we see Kempe back with the team. He’s earned himself a few days off here to rest and recover before the sprint to the finish.