King Rookie Shows Fight in 3-2 Victory Over Ducks

The Mighty Ducks left their young bucks at home, and two King rookies were the stars of the Kings’ 3-2 exhibition victory Sunday at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The Kings might have found one of the answers to their eternal quest for toughness in Matt Johnson, the right wing they took in the second round of the NHL draft in June. Johnson might have put himself in position to make the team purely with his performance in two fights against veteran Duck tough guy Stu Grimson.

Johnson, 18, is 6 feet 5 and 230 pounds, five pounds heavier and even more imposing than Grimson, one of the NHL’s biggest fighters. And when they went toe-to-toe in the first period and again in the second, Johnson did no worse than a draw--and he might have gotten the better of Grimson in the first.

That drew the approval of Coach Barry Melrose, who is almost obsessive about putting a bigger, tougher team on the ice.

“If Matt is going to stay here, he has to prove he’s an NHL heavyweight. I think he proved tonight he is,” Melrose said. “I was impressed by his courage.”

“I wanted to establish my role as early as possible,” Johnson said. “I’d rank him better than the guys in junior.”

The other young standout was goaltender Jamie Storr, the Kings’ first-round pick in June and the seventh overall. Storr, who is being given a shot to make the team as a backup goalie, shut out the Ducks’ anemic attack for almost two periods before Bob Corkum poked the puck by him with 49 seconds left in the second. Storr played the entire game, making 16 saves and giving up two goals.

Wilson, who anticipated the combative nature of a game that included five fights and 115 penalty minutes, left his two high-profile rookies--winger Paul Kariya and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky--in Anaheim.

King-Duck Notes

Dan Quinn, Yanic Perreault and Rob Brown scored the Kings’ goals. Rookie Steve Rucchin also scored for the Ducks. . . . Attendance was 8,127. . . . The Kings play at Vancouver at 7:30 tonight.