Kings Lose Stevens at a Bad Time

The Kings, struggling for a playoff berth, learned Tuesday that they will be without left wing Kevin Stevens for what figures to be a significant portion of the final stretch. A second MRI of Stevens’ left leg revealed a small fracture in the head of the smaller of the two bones below the knee.

Stevens is listed as week to week but said he won’t even try to skate until next week, putting him out for at least five of the 16 games the Kings have left.

“It’s been a death trip,” Stevens said of this season. “When I was with Pittsburgh, I played something like 280 consecutive games. “I never got hurt. I just played and played and went along.”

Stevens was traded by Pittsburgh to Boston in the off-season but faltered in his hometown, scoring 10 goals and 23 points in 41 games before the Kings acquired him in the Rick Tocchet trade Jan. 25.

Stevens didn’t score for the Kings in his first seven games but finally broke through with a goal against his former teammates in a 3-3 tie against the Bruins on Feb. 19. He has three goals and eight points in 13 games for the Kings, but a sore back kept him out of two games and a pulled hip muscle forced him to miss another.

Stevens said the latest injury occurred when he was slashed at Edmonton on Feb. 21. Initial tests showed no fracture and he continued to play, scoring twice on the four-game trip, but he had to leave the game against Tampa Bay last Wednesday at the Forum.

“I thought it was a bruise,” he said. “I came back here and I couldn’t skate and I probably shouldn’t have played. The hardest thing is I can’t skate even though I can walk fine.”