Doughty says Gibson 'left out to dry' in Pacific loss at All-Star Game

SAN JOSE -- Normally you won't find a Los Angeles Kings player who feels bad for an Anaheim Ducks goalie.

That's another thing that makes the All-Star Game experience different, because it happened at SAP Center on Saturday.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty admitted he felt bad for Ducks goalie John Gibson as the puck kept going in against him in the first period of the Central Division's 10-4 win against the Pacific in the first semifinal of the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game.
RELATED: [Pacific Division falls to Central Division | Complete All-Star Game coverage]
It was the second time the Pacific Division lost in the 3-on-3 All-Star Game format that started in Nashville in 2016. The Pacific won it last year in Tampa Bay and in 2016 and lost in the final in 2017 in Los Angeles.
"Oh, we left him out to dry," Doughty said of Gibson. "Breakaways and 2-on-1s all night."
Gibson allowed seven goals on nine shots in the 10 minutes he played.
"It seems like sometimes it always goes in," Gibson said. "It happens."
Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, linemates with the Colorado Avalanche, scored 30 seconds apart to give the Central a 2-0 lead 93 seconds into the game.

Erik Karlsson scored a breakaway goal to get the Pacific on the board at 4:51, but the Central followed with five consecutive goals from Roman Josi (Nashville Predators), Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets), Rantanen and Kane again in a span of 3:03 to take a 7-1 lead into the intermission.
"I was a little happy to be on the bench at that time," said Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights, the Pacific's other goalie who allowed three goals on nine shots in the second period.
Gibson even heard some mocking cheers from the fans when he actually did make a save or simply touch the puck. Some were chanting for Fleury to come in.
Fleury knew it too, which is why he gave a wave to the crowd after he made his first save on Scheifele 1:02 into the second period.
"I just wanted to say thank you to the fans," Fleury said, smiling. That was after Landeskog scored on a top-shelf shot to give the Central an 8-1 lead 42 seconds into the period.
"Like, we were laughing, but I think we were laughing because we were so embarrassed that we were playing so bad," Doughty said. "Yeah, it [stunk]. Then when they were doing that to Gibson too we were even more [angry] because we felt bad for him because it wasn't his fault."
Fleury felt for Gibson too.
"I've been in John's shoes," he said. "In Columbus at the All-Star Game [in 2015], I got booed and people were yelling to get me out of there. It's not an easy place to be in."
Gibson, to his credit, handled it well, recognizing that this wasn't going against his record and that it was, or at least it was supposed to be an enjoyable and memorable experience regardless of what happened on the ice.
"It's all in good fun," Gibson said. "Obviously, nobody is ever happy about it, but it's an event and you have fun with it."
The only thing that seemed to bother Gibson, Doughty and Fleury was that they couldn't help the host players, San Jose Sharks defensemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, and forward Joe Pavelski, move on into the final to give the home crowd a bigger thrill.

"You feel like you lose face a bit losing against the other guys, and I wish we could have done better for the Sharks players," Fleury said.
The Sharks players at least accounted for three of the Pacific's four goals, two from Karlsson and one from Burns. Pavelski had two assists. Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau had the Pacific's other goal.
"It was awesome," Karlsson said. "It's been a while since I scored, so I was happy about that. But it was fun. Obviously it didn't go as well as we planned, but I always enjoy these things, and it's nice to be around guys that you usually compete against and be in an environment like this. And to share it with these two guys (Burns and Pavelski) is something that's always going to be special. I'm extremely happy that I got the opportunity to do this."
Gibson was too, kind of.
"You're still at an All-Star Game and you're out there with some of the best players in the League," Gibson said. "Stuff is going to happen. … Just go with it."