Drew Doughty comes to the defense of Jonathan Quick

"We all know Quickie [Jonathan Quick] is an honest hockey player," Drew Doughty says. "He's not diving. He's not flopping. Quickie is as tough as nails."

By Lisa Dillman

May 23, 2013 11:48 AM PT

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty scoffed at the notion, put forth by Sharks forward TJ Galiardi, that goalie Jonathan Quick engages in “a little embellishment.”

Doughty stood up for his goalie Quick, a spirited defense, and then said the San Jose player is a noted diver. He took issue with the comments and said they went beyond the usual playoff back-and-forth.

“It’s not even playoff talk,” Doughty told The Times after Thursday’s morning skate before Game 5. “It’s just funny to even hear that from a guy who is the biggest diver on their team. Like it’s just ridiculous he can even say that, to be honest.

“But I don’t want to get involved in that stuff. I don’t think you have to watch many [Sharks’ games]. You can just watch three of his shifts and you’ll see how many times he dives. There’s been times where even the refs are telling him, just get up, because he’s diving so often.”

Galiardi was not prompted by a specific question about Quick when he made the comments at the Sharks practice on Wednesday.

“What kind of bugs me about him, I don’t know if I should say it, but a little embellishment every now and then,” Galiardi told the San Jose Mercury News. “You skate by and you don’t even touch him or you barely even touch him and he’s throwing his hands in the air. So that’s one of those things. It’s playoffs. Everyone’s trying to draw a penalty. Whatever.

“You [media] guys see it. The thing is, with video, something we like to say around here is ball don’t lie. It’s an old basketball term. But when you watch the video, the video doesn’t lie. So I’m skating by and I barely touch him and he’s throwing his hands in the air, it’s kind of one of those things -- he looks bad on video, not me.”

Doughty, looking annoyed, had more to say about Galiardi.

“For him to call Quickie out like that, it’s just not right and we all know Quickie is an honest hockey player,” Doughty said. “He’s not diving. He’s not flopping. Quickie is as tough as nails.”

His mental list of the league’s top divers includes Galiardi, Doughty said, adding: “He’s top five so it’s just funny to hear that from him.”

Kings captain Dustin Brown was more restrained.

“It’s funny that they’re complaining and making comments,” he said. “Guys are going to do whatever they have to do to win games. That’s what we’re focused on. It’s funny how much media quotes get played up this time of year.

Embellishment was a big talking point in the San Jose’s first-round series when Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa went off on the Sharks in a big way.

“I don’t think there is a whole lot of embellishing going on, on either side,” Brown said. “Considering all of the talk of embellishment in the last series, you’d think it’d be enough talking about that.”

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