Golden Knights preparing for business as usual in wake of Drew Doughty decision

LAS VEGAS — The punishment handed down in the wake of Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty’s hit on Golden Knights forward William Carrier could be the turning point in this series.

Doughty, a former Norris Trophy winner, hit Carrier — a fourth-line winger for Vegas who just returned to the lineup after missing two months with an undisclosed injury — in the head with 10:01 remaining in the third period of the Golden Knights’ 1-0 Game 1 victory at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night.

The league’s Department of Player Safety, which scheduled a Thursday hearing, announced a one-game suspension for Doughty and he will miss Game 2 on Friday in Las Vegas.

“It wasn’t a clean hit at all,” Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch said. “It’s the playoffs, so if [the league doesn’t] suspend him, it’s understandable. I just saw through the bench and wasn’t too sure what happened, but I thought it was right to the head.”

While such attention isn’t normally paid to the status of a fourth-line winger, the impact Carrier had in Game 1 was surely noticeable. He led all players with a team-high 10 hits in a game that saw a whopping 127 combined hits. It was a physical game, but whether or not it was that physical is another story.

The Golden Knights went into Game 1 nearly 100 percent healthy for the first time in a month. The only noticeable absence was that of David Perron (and it’s unclear whether or not he’ll play in Game 2 on Friday).

Carrier, however, has been a key missing piece in the second half of the Golden Knights’ season. While he has only three points this season, Carrier brings an element of quickness to the fourth line that counters the steady play of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Tomas Nosek. In Carrier’s absence has been Ryan Reaves, the bruising forward Vegas acquired in a Feb. 23 trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Reaves notably brings physicality and big hits, but he’s not the offensive igniter Carrier is.

Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said Carrier is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not disclose if he would be available Friday. If not, Reaves or Oscar Lindberg will fill in that role.

“Hopefully they have me, but I don’t know,” Doughty said after Kings practice Thursday. “They’re just going to have to go out there and play and play as hard as they can, and they’ll do a great job.”

Vegas’ 1-0 win was reflective off the work on the ice. After Shea Theodore’s goal 3:23 into the first period, it turned into a defensive battle with a hint of goaltending. Doughty played a game-high 28:02 and recorded a game-high six blocked shots, but the Kings couldn’t reciprocate anything in the offensive zone, leading to a 30-save shutout for Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Golden Knights aren’t planning on doing anything different with their game plan now that one of the best defensemen in the NHL is out for a pivotal playoff game, but given Doughty’s activity in Game 1, it’s something Vegas will take note of.

“He’s obviously a great player, but I don’t think we need to change too much,” Vegas defenseman Colin Miller said. “I think we did a good job last game getting in on their d-men and separating them from the puck. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Vegas will look to take a 2-0 lead heading into Los Angeles for Game 3 on Sunday, and surely the Golden Knights would rather go into that stretch healthy. Fair trade, maybe?

“They’re a deep team,” Tuch said. “They won’t fill his spot completely, but they’ll put someone in there that’ll do the job.”