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EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. - It was a moment that had Los Angeles Kings fans holding their collective breath. Drew Doughty yelped in pain after taking a slash from Ducks defenceman Francois Beauchemin to the back of the knee Monday night. He slowly skated off the ice struggling to put weight on the injured leg. "It was just a numb feeling," said Doughty, who has logged a team-high 27:14 of ice time per game in the playoffs. "It hits a little nerve and just goes numb for three minutes, four minutes and then its fine. Ive had it happen before so I wasnt scared, but its numb so its awkward to skate on." Doughty, who returned to the ice a few shifts after the slash, doesnt believe Beauchemin hit him in the sensitive spot on purpose. But that doesnt mean hell forget what happened. "Well, I always keep it in the back of my mind," Doughty said. "I know exactly who it was. Im not going to take any runs at him, but if hes coming down [the ice] Im not going to shy up on a hit." The Ducks are eager to make Doughty pay a physical price in this series, because his presence on the blue line is absolutely crucial to the Kings success, especially considering they are down two regulars (Willie Mitchell and Robyn Regehr) due to injury. "I know teams are going to target me," said Doughty. "Theyre going to target other guys on the team too. Its just part of the game. If anything, that makes you hungrier. It makes you want to work harder to avoid those hits and make a difference. When theyre targeting you and youre still being successful, thats the most frustrating thing for them." Anaheim is also doing its best to get Jonathan Quick off his game. Corey Perry crashed into the Los Angeles crease during the second period of Game 2, which led the soft-spoken Kings keeper to give him a shot and take a roughing penalty. "Some people think you get him off his game by doing those types of things, but you dont," said Kings forward Jarret Stoll. "If anybody knows Quickie, hes a very, very competitive, determined guy in the net and hell do anything to win and hell back up his teammates even when we dont want him to sometimes. We dont want him in the scrums, but sometimes hes in there like he was in round one [when he went after big San Jose Sharks centre Joe Thornton]. "Its no secret: we want to target their best players too. If their best players are the best players in the series then theyre going to win the series and were going to lose. If Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter and Marian Gaborik are the best players in the series, were probably going to win." For his part, Darryl Sutter thinks all the targeting talk is a bit much. "Every game he plays he gets extra attention, but I dont think anyone is going out of their way to hit Drew Doughty," the Kings head coach said. "Theyre a big, physical team. The reason Drew may get touched more than other guys is he plays half the game. Quite honest, we need some of our other defencemen to get touched that much." Thats just one adjustment the Kings can make. There will be others. Despite stealing the first two games of the series in Anaheim, Sutter and his players are far from content. There are certainly ways they can improve. "Hopefully lots of ways," Sutter said, "but Im not going to give you that little secret." The tight-lipped coach did admit he felt the Kings were lucky to be in such a commanding position in the series. "We had to use a short bench [in Game 1] because some guys werent up to standards. We were fortunate to win that game." One area where the Kings can be better is in dealing with the Anaheim forecheck. "Theyre quick. They read off each other really well," Stoll explained. "Theyre very aggressive. They get two guys down to the goal line very quickly on our defencemen. If were not going to support our defencemen like we should, were going to get outmanned and out-supported. The key is to out-support their forecheck in those situations. Come up with the pucks, and get it going the other way. Everybody wants to play in the offensive zone. Thats the whole battle. Thats the whole series right there." So there are issues to be addressed, but at the same time there are reasons to believe coming back on the Kings will be a very, very difficult task. The Kings were outshot by the Ducks 37-17 in Game 2, but they have done well to prevent second-chance opportunities. "Our D have done a really good job of defending," said Doughty. "We maybe havent been the best at moving the puck or as good as we usually are, but our defending has been really, really good. Were playing physical. Were boxing guys out, getting under sticks, clearing pucks and thats our job in the D zone. When were doing that, when were clearing the bodies, Quickies going to make the first save." Doughty had a four game point streak snapped on Monday and he has the same number of penalty minutes (two) as shots on net in the series so far. And yet he remains a key reason why the Kings are in such a good spot. "I thought we controlled him pretty good," said Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau. "I dont think he made many rushes [Monday], but hes a smart player and hes very good defensively when he has to be. Thats based on the individual. Theres not much we can do about the fact were playing against a good player. I mean, hes good and hes going to make good plays. We try and disrupt him as much as we can, but youre not going to do it all the time." Doughty believes he is "10 times the player" he was during the 2009-10 season when he racked up a career-high 59 points en route to a Norris Trophy nomination. He says he is much better in his own zone now and all-around more mature. "I feel Ive improved as a player and been a better leader for this team and Ive played a lot better. I make a difference in every game." The other major thorn in Anaheims side, other than Doughty and Quick, is Anze Kopitar. The Selke Trophy nominee is the leading scorer in the playoffs with 14 points despite being matched up consistently against other teams top players. Kopitar has registered at least one point in all nine of the Kings playoff games this spring. "When Im on the ice with Kopi Im playing completely different," said Doughty. "When I get the puck rather than maybe trying to rush it or something like that, if Kopis open Im just giving it to him no matter what and Im joining the rush. "When Kopis there you have full trust in him. He just makes things happen when he has the puck so I figure why not give it to the guy that makes things happen and try and get open for him." Despite their success, the core players on the Kings arent about to start feeling too good about themselves despite the current six game win streak. This is a veteran team just two years removed from a championship. And theyre way too smart to feel satisfied. "We know how quickly a series can change," said Doughty. "It just takes one moment sometimes. It can be a fight, just a big goal or anything like that. A series can change so quickly so you got to keep that foot on the gas pedal. We cant let them back in the series. "We have that killer instinct and we have to show that in the next game. If we let up for any second that [can be] the difference in the game, the difference between winning and losing." Only a couple weeks ago, the Kings appeared dead in the water after dropping the first three games against the Sharks. They dont want to give the Ducks a chance to author their own comeback story. "A 2-0 lead is great, but its not four," Stoll said. "Its not four wins and we know that better than anybody and we also know we havent played our best hockey to date." Chicago Bulls Shirts .com) - The Oakland Athletics needed to rely on a lot of young pitchers to win an American League West title this season. Chicago Bulls Store ., climbed from seventh to fifth spot in womens competition Sunday at the ISU world junior figure skating championships. https://www.cheapbulls.com/. Its the games against the leagues struggling franchises that have proved to be an issue. Bulls Jerseys 2019 . Wade is posting a short film on his website next week, with a sneak preview scheduled to come out Wednesday. Cheap Bulls Jerseys . They signed their first kicker. Ottawa inked Nick Setta, a 32-year-old native of Lockport, Illinois, to a contract.OAKLAND, Calif. -- Manager Bob Melvin shuffled the Athletics batting order and got the type of production he was looking for from the top of the lineup. Chris Young and Alberto Callaspo, hitting in the No. 6 and 8 spots, provided a nice boost as well. Young and Callaspo homered in the fifth inning and Oakland beat the Cleveland Indians 7-3 on Sunday. "Thats always nice when you get contributions all over," Melvin said. "We feel like we have just as good a chance to score down in the lineup as we do up in the lineup." Jed Lowrie, batting leadoff for only the third time this season, had two hits and scored twice for Oakland. Josh Donaldson drove in three runs as the As pulled within a half-game of AL West-leading Texas. One day after being held to a season-low three hits in a 7-1 loss to the Indians, the As jumped on Cleveland starter Scott Kazmir early. Lowrie singled and scored in the first, then doubled and scored in the second. Derek Norris added two hits and reached base four times while Donaldson had a pair of RBI singles and also drove in a run on a groundout in the first. "Thats when were at our best, when we have equal parts and we can trust everybody up and down the lineup," Lowrie said. "Thats been our key offensively. I dont think Im a prototypical leadoff hitter but I get on base a lot." Young hit his 11th home run off Kazmir (7-6) to break a 3-all tie in the fifth. Three pitches later, Callaspo followed with his sixth homer and first since being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in late July. Ryan Raburn homered for Cleveland, which has lost six of its past seven in Oakland. The Indians dropped seven games behind Detroit in the Central and fell 4 1/2 games behind the As in the AL wild card race. "Its go time," said second baseman Jason Kipnis, who had two of Clevelands nine hits. "We dont have time to sit around and fell sorry for ourselves about losing twwo of three here.ddddddddddddIts time to take care of business." Dan Otero (2-0) retired five batters for the win in relief of starter Tommy Milone. Grant Balfour pitched the ninth. Kazmir had a rough afternoon while pitching on eight days rest. The left-hander had been moved back after saying he had a "dead arm" after his previous start. Kazmir gave up a pair of two-out scoring hits in the first two innings. He was hit by Josh Reddicks liner that ricocheted off him and went into right field in the third. Ahead 5-3, Oakland got a boost when left fielder Yoenis Cespedes threw out Nick Swisher at second base in the seventh when he tried to extend a single. Center fielder Young made a stellar play to rob Michael Brantley of extra bases in the eighth. Raburn homered in the second, hitting a towering solo shot that bounced high off the wall beyond the centre field fence. Called up from Triple-A Sacramento before the game, Milone ran into trouble in the third following Callaspos throwing error at third base. Callaspo made up for the gaffe when he followed Youngs solo home run in the fifth with his blast to left. "You think of him as a slap hitter but every now and then hell square it up and throw it out of the yard from both sides of the plate," Young said of Callaspo. "Hes a special guy to have on your team." NOTES: Donaldson has 42 multi-hit games, one more than any player on the As had in 2012. ... Kazmir had allowed only two home runs total over his previous nine starts. ... Milone struck out five and walked one. ... LHP Brett Anderson threw 49 pitches in a rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento and will make at least one appearance in the minors before rejoining the As. Oakland is also considering putting Anderson into the rotation after originally planning to use him out of the bullpen. ... As they announced they would do, the As put RHP Bartolo Colon on the disabled list. ' ' '