Another King Goalie Knocked Out in Loss

Paging Alexey Volkov. Paging Alexey Volkov. Pick up the white courtesy phone in the Montreal airport.

The average on-ice expectancy of a Kings’ goalie approached the career span of an infantryman Friday night when Manny Legace suffered a concussion in a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay.

Legace became the third King goalie to be injured since Sunday night, joining Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr. Next up was Ryan Bach, who 27 hours earlier was not only not in the NHL, he wasn’t even in the King farm system. Suddenly he found himself playing before 8,708 in the big leagues, facing 23 shots after Legace was run over by the Lightning’s Darcy Tucker on his short-handed goal at 7:26 of the second period.

He gave up goals by Mikael Renberg and Pavel Kubina that were the difference for Tampa Bay.

Tucker had skated in alone on Legace after taking a pass from Rob Zamuner after the Kings’ Steve Duchesne turned the puck over on a power play.

Tucker went in hard, bowled over Legace and fell on his head; and 4:31 later, Legace left the ice feeling woozy and with an upset stomach, symptoms of a concussion.

“I was just going to the net hard,” Tucker said. “That’s the way you have to play. . . . Play with reckless abandon and you score goals.”

He has scored three this season.

Legace, trying to stay in his second NHL game, handled all of the questions from trainer Peter Demers, who lately has had more ice time than any King goalie.

Yes, he was in Tampa. Yes, it was Friday. Yes, he was Manny.

And shortly thereafter, no, he wasn’t feeling well, which meant the Kings had to cash in their insurance policy, a day after they bought it for a draft choice from the Detroit Red Wings and shipped it in from the International Hockey League’s Utah Grizzlies.

It is yet to be determined if Legace can play Sunday, at least in a backup role. If not, Volkov’s return to junior hockey after a game as Legace’s backup could be short-lived.

“I’ve never seen it and I don’t believe it,” Duchesne said of the goalie turnover.

When Legace left, the Kings had outshot Tampa Bay, 27-15. By the end of the period, the Lightning had outshot the Kings, 12-2, peppering Bach with renewed enthusiasm.

And diminished competition.

“We could have probably put the game away in the first 15 minutes,” said Coach Larry Robinson, who met with the Kings for five minutes behind closed doors after the game, then called off practice for today.

“[Bill] Ranford made a couple of diving stops, some incredible stops where guys were just shaking their heads. They had a wide-open net. And then the short-handed goal just kind of took the steam out of us and gave them life.”

In that first 15 minutes, the Kings had dominated Tampa Bay but come up dry. They outshot Tampa Bay, 12-4, in the first nine minutes, but they developed a habit of turning the puck over at their own blue line, then drawing penalties to make up for their errors.

Their 1-0 lead came at 1:28 of the second period on a breakaway goal by Russ Courtnall.

Almost six minutes later, Legace was sitting and pondering fate that had him starting the week with the Long Beach Ice Dogs, then ending it with cobwebs in his head in the NHL.

“I didn’t want to come out,” he said. “I just felt sick. I wanted to go back in. I wanted to keep playing.”

But players with concussions, however mild, become spectators, and Bach became an NHL goalie. Wearing a helmet decorated with Red Wings’ insignia and red pads, he handled the first 17 shots fired at him, until Renberg sent one past his red glove at 4:55 of the third period.

Bach was screened by teammate Doug Bodger, who was trying to oust Craig Janney from the slot.

The deciding goal came from Kubina, who took a pass from Benoit Hogue to complete a play that began with another King turnover at the blue line.

Between the goals, Bach spent some time on his back, again courtesy of Tucker, and Demers spent more time on the ice.

“The wind was just knocked out of me,” said Bach, who was working on 2 1/2 hours sleep. “But I wasn’t going out of the game. I think at that point, there weren’t too many volunteers to replace me.”

That hand up belongs to Volkov, who needs to stay near a phone.