Leave it to the final preseason game to throw the expectations of the formation of the Kings’ roster into doubt.
The significant news is that Dwight King suffered an injury early in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Colorado.
“Kinger’s going to be out for an extended period of time,” Darryl Sutter said. “Blocked a shot, first period. Hit with a shot, so he’s out.”
King played through the injury but did not take the ice with the team Monday morning.
@lakingsinsider saw him on crutches rocking a boot on his foot.
— Steve Soeffner (@OCSteve19) October 5, 2015
That information corroborates some of the other pieces of information I’ve heard.
While Matt Greene and Jake Muzzin took the ice on Monday, Sutter deemed their statuses to be “the very same.”
“They’re both eight days today, and they’re week-to-week,” he said. “Neither one has taken on full game-type activities in practice yet, so I’d say they’re both doubtful.”
That “doubtful” designation contradicted the information provided by Muzzin, who skated with Drew Doughty during line rushes and was confident he’d be able to play in the season opener.
“I’m ready. Whatever’s hurting, it’s almost a hundred percent,” Muzzin said. “It’s an injury where it’s not going to get worse, so something like that, I think we’re good to go.”
“If you push it a little too hard, you may feel something for a little bit, but then it goes away, it’s fine. I want to play. I don’t want to not start the season sitting in the stands. I want to play.”
Both Muzzin and Greene suffered upper-body injuries during Los Angeles’ 2-1 shootout win at Colorado two Sundays ago. For Muzzin, it was the third consecutive preseason he suffered an injury against the Avalanche. After suffering a thumb injury in Colorado Springs in September, 2014, he returned after missing six NHL games and appeared in 76 consecutive games to end the season.
“I didn’t like it,” Muzzin said about missing the start of the 2014-15 season. “You work all summer, and you do training camp and stuff to get ready for the first game, and then you’re not there. What’d I miss, the first six games or something last year? The summer was long, everything’s long. You want to get going, so I don’t want it to be longer.”
Forward lines at today’s practice, via color coding:
White: Lucic-Kopitar-Gaborik
Red: Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
Yellow: Brown-Shore-Lewis
Purple: Clifford-Andreoff-Nolan-Weal
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