Goalie Legace Is Cleared to Play

Emergency goaltender Manny Legace survived his emergency and on Saturday was cleared to play tonight against Carolina at Greensboro, N.C.

Legace suffered a mild concussion in the second period Friday when he was bowled over in the crease by Tampa Bay’s Darcy Tucker, who scored a short-handed goal on the play.

Ryan Bach, who stepped in to replace Legace about 27 hours after being traded to the Kings, will return to backup status after giving up two goals in 23 shots Friday night.

Legace (pronounced LEG-uh-see) and Bach view replacing injured King goalies Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr as an opportunity to be seen by NHL teams. There will be two more expansion teams added next season.

“I can be a free agent after this year,” Legace said.

Anybody looking at him with an eye to the future has seen plenty. Legace has faced 73 shots in 87 minutes, making 71 saves.

“All the goalies we have in have played exceptionally well,” Coach Larry Robinson said.

All means four in the last week.

TONIGHT at Carolina

2 PST, Channel 9

Site--Greensboro Coliseum.

Radio--KRLA (1110).

Records--Kings 2-2-2, Hurricanes 1-1-3.

Record vs. Hurricanes (1997-98)--0-1-1.

Update--Carolina began its season confident that Trevor Kidd would continue the play that made him one of the best goalies in the last half of last season. The Hurricanes got Arturs Irbe, the former hero of San Jose, to back up Kidd. So much for plans. Kidd gave up three goals in the first period against Nashville in the Predators’ 3-2 victory, their first ever, and was replaced by Irbe. This is the third game of the Kings’ five-game trip, and they are 0-1-1 so far. They have scored more than two goals in a game only once, in a 5-5 tie with Colorado.