Martinez skates, takes step forward in recovery

Following the Kings’ practice at Toyota Sports Center on Friday morning, Alec Martinez took the ice with Assistant Coach John Stevens in his endeavor to return from a hyperextended elbow suffered when Anaheim forward Kyle Palmieri collided with him and goaltender Jonathan Quick in the third period of Saturday’s Stadium Series game.

“I remember,” Martinez said about the play. “It’s hard to forget my elbow wrapped around the post the wrong way. It certainly didn’t feel good, but I knew something was up right away. I don’t know. I just wanted to keep playing, so that’s what I did.”

Martinez finished the game but did not make the subsequent road trip to Phoenix and San Jose and is yet to practice with his teammates. He hopes to be able to practice with the rest of the team prior to the Olympic break but hasn’t thought that far ahead yet, opting instead for a day-by-day approach.

“It’s kind of one of those things where you can’t do much other than just ice the [cr–] out of it. So that’s all I’ve been doing. I’ve been working out and staying in shape otherwise with my legs and things like that. I’ve been in the gym doing stuff. I can still do some upper body with my other side and then there is ways to work around. It’s one joint you have to avoid, but you can adapt. I’ve been doing some rehab stuff too. So just getting the mobility back in it and stuff like that. It’s feeling a lot better.”

Via Kings Fan Daily:

“It didn’t feel good,” Martinez recalled about the injury. “All things considered, it turned out a lot better than I thought, especially at the moment and then after the game. I thought there was something pretty seriously wrong with it, but I got lucky and no tears, no breaks or anything. So no surgery or anything like that, [and] hopefully I’ll be back soon.”