Ferraro Suffers Knee Injury

The Kings may have lost one of their most reliable players Sunday when center Ray Ferraro left early in the third period because of a left knee sprain against the New York Rangers.

Ferraro, who led the Kings with 81 games played last season, had just cleared the puck out of the King zone when New York defenseman Jeff Beukeboom checked him into the side boards. Ferraro’s leg got caught underneath Beukeboom and he left the game with the help of trainer Pete Demers.

“[Beukeboom] ran about 35 feet and hit me late,” said Ferraro, a former Ranger. “What was I going to do? He smashed me. I can’t go and change what happened. I guess all I could have done was been closer to the boards.”

Ferraro is listed as week-to-week and will not play in either of the Kings’ final two games of their current five-game trip.

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Olli Jokinen, the third pick overall in last summer’s draft, was a scratch because Coach Larry Robinson thought the rookie struggled in the team’s first two games.

Fellow rookie Donald MacLean, however, did play and scored his first NHL goal with a skillful move on New York goaltender Mike Richter late in the second period.

“It was an awesome feeling, to score your first goal especially in New York like this,” said MacLean, who was given the puck by teammate Ian Laperriere. “For a while, I was hoping that it would stand up as the game-winner.”

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In his first game back in New York since being traded, King left wing Luc Robitaille had an average game with only one shot on goal. . . . Defenseman Jan Vopat has not played on the current trip. He was a scratch again Sunday along with defenseman Philippe Boucher, left wing Vladimir Tsyplakov and Jokinen. . . . King General Manager Dave Taylor said he spoke to the agent of unsigned right wing Vitali Yachmenev this weekend but there has been no progress in contract talks. The Kings have not altered their original offer. . . . King co-owner Philip F. Anschutz, who doesn’t attend many games at the Forum, was in attendance at Madison Square Garden.