Former NAHL forward Dowd makes NHL debut

March 23, 2016

The Los Angeles Kings recalled former NAHL forward Nic Dowd from the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey on Tuesday, and made his NHL debut that night, in Minnesota as the Kings fell 2-1 to the Wild.

 

“The veteran guys told me I’d done it a million times, just go out there and do it again, don’t think,” said Dowd of his debut to lakingsinsider.com. “It’s a little easier said than done, but as the game progressed, I felt like I settled in.”

 

Dowd was hit with a high-stick early in the first period of his debut and was issued interference on goalkeeper penalty early in the second period.

 

“I felt really good,” Dowd said of settling in after the high-stick. “I think the adrenaline kicked in, and I was fortunate that my first shift was in the o-zone, not the d-zone, and just happened to take the high stick.”

 

He finished the game with a plus-1 rating, one hit, one give away, played a 1:01 on the power play, totaled time on ice of 12:15 and won 62-percent of his face-offs.

 

“I was just trying to play a simple game, read off of the other guys out there, there’s a lot of veteran leadership on this team that started before the game, and you kind of build confidence off of them, so I just worked with what I was given, and it wasn’t the result that we wanted,” Dowd said of being given more time on ice as the game wore on.

 

Dowd played in the NAHL for a full season in 2008-09. He began the season with the St. Louis Bandits and was traded early on to the Wenatchee Wild, where he played for then head coach Paul Baxter, who is the current General Manager of the Wichita Falls Wildcats.

 

In 46 career NAHL games, Dowd had 49 points. He also tied for the scoring lead in the 2009 NAHL Robertson Cup Playoffs with 22 points in 13 games played. Dowd was drafted by the LA Kings right after his only NAHL season in the summer of 2009.

 

The 25-year-old Dowd (born May 27, 1990) is a 6-2, 195-pound native of Huntsville, Ala. who has appeared in 57 games this season with Ontario (AHL), posting 47 points (13-34=47), 47 penalty minutes and a plus-12 rating. At the time of his recall he led the Reign in assists and ranked second in points.

 

Dowd has played in 139 games during three seasons in the AHL (all with the Kings organization; Ontario and Manchester), where he has registered 91 points (22-69=91), a plus-30 rating and 91 penalty minutes.