Drew Doughty opts out of Kings’ morning skate, but still plans to play in team’s farewell to the Joe in Detroit

Greetings from Detroit, where it was 8 degrees and sunny outside as the Kings arrived at Joe Louis Arena for their morning skate in advance of their game against the Red Wings on Thursday night. Their charter flight out of snow-battered Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon was delayed about an hour; my commercial flight was delayed six hours. Ah, the joys of winter travel.

Jeff Zatkoff was the first goaltender off the ice and is likely to start Thursday night in his hometown, as the Kings begin a sequence of back-to-back games that will conclude Friday in Pittsburgh.

Peter Budaj has appeared in 25 of the Kings’ previous 26 games and can use the rest. Budaj was pulled during the second period of the Kings’ 6-3 loss at Buffalo on Tuesday and was replaced by Zatkoff. However, Budaj returned for the third period. Zatkoff got the loss in that game and is 1-5 in seven appearances with a 3.20 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage.

Jimmy Howard is expected to start in goal for the Red Wings, who are 0-2-1 in their last three games, all at home, and 2-3-2 in their last seven games.

The Kings’ morning skate Thursday was optional, but everyone opted in — except defenseman Drew Doughty, though he said he will play. He has been dealing with what he recently called a “small problem,” likely related to a groin or hamstring after he unexpectedly did the splits in the Kings’ game against Ottawa last Saturday and showed some discomfort. He also skipped a practice Sunday.

The large turnout for the morning skate was unusual, especially for an optional skate. “If I told them all to go, they’d [complain]. I told them none of them had to go, so they all go,” Coach Darryl Sutter said.

Doughty said he simply took the option to not skate. “It’s nothing to do with being injured, or anything like that,” he said. “I’ll be good to go. I’m looking forward to this matchup. We need a win, so I’ve got to be on my ‘A’ game along with everyone else.”

This will be the Kings’ final regular-season visit to Joe Louis Arena, long ago nicknamed the Joe. The Red Wings will leave after this season and move to a new downtown arena they will share with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons. Doughty said he was lucky enough to watch a game here as a kid and thought the building was impressive, but he hasn’t had such happy times here as a professional athlete.

“My memories of this arena are usually a minus-2, minus-3 night when [Nick] Lidstrom and [Pavel] Datsyuk and [Henrik] Zetterberg and [Tomas] Holmstrom. They had all those players,” he said, listing some of the Red Wings’ many standouts. “My memories aren’t as amazing when I’m actually in the game here. I’m actually a little bit happy that it’s going to be gone.”

Center Anze Kopitar had similar sentiments. “My feelings were hurt a couple times in this barn,” he said, smiling. “There were some nights when I chewed up some minuses early in the game and chased the game and pretty much didn’t see the puck for the rest of the game. Those were not the fun nights.

“But there was also some good memories in this building. Before I was drafted, Detroit was my favorite team to watch because of all the Russians that have played here,” added Kopitar, a native of Slovenia. “I certainly liked their style of hockey, and being from Europe and all of that. It was always special to play here.”

Defenseman Matt Greene, a native of Grand Ledge, Mich., is determined not to get caught up in nostalgia over the occasion. He expects to feel sentimental, “but it’s more just about getting back on track here with the team,” said Greene, who expected his parents, sister and some friends to watch him play Thursday night. “You’ve got to take care of the task at hand, and then personal stuff. That’s it for this one.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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