164116646It’s said that the most intense rivalries are forged in the playoffs, and the Los Angeles Kings vs. the Phoenix Coyotes are Exhibit A.
Sure, their regular season games would have a certain brutality to them; but the five-game Western Conference Final that ended with Dustin Brown’s thunderous hit on Michal Rozsival and Dustin Penner’s OT winner upped the animosity.
The Kings defeated the Coyotes on Tuesday night, 3-2, in a game that ended with Drew Doughty and Raffi Torres getting roughing minors. After the game, Doughty was still feisty, telling John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor that the Coyotes were one of the whiniest teams the Kings face:
“I think one is that they like to whine a lot. At times they remind me of Vancouver with their complaining and stuff like that…I don’t know if it’s one single guy or anything like that. It kind of seems like a whole team kind of thing. All teams whine, all teams complain, it just seems like this team, especially against us…Seem to do it every night. So that’s what frustrates you, and they play you hard, and they’re tough to play against. So that also is what bugs you.”
Wait, are the Vancouver Canucks the whiners or the divers or the diving whiners? We’re really having a tough time keeping up with the accusations…
Are the Coyotes whiners?
Well, they didn’t exactly help themselves by getting hysterical after Game 5 last postseason, with Mike Smith saying Brown should be “done forever” for his hit on Rozsival and both he and Shane Doan complaining about the officiating in the series. Because if the NHL was going to screw over a team, it’d be the one that it owns, right?
But like Doughty said: Everyone whines. Sometimes. As Shottsey points out, even Drew Doughty: