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Murray Tries Shuffling Defensive Combinations

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At first look, it would seem that giving up five goals at Edmonton had prompted a defensive scramble in Monday’s practice.

After seasons of watching Rob Blake and Mattias Norstrom skating together as the top defense pair, after seven games of watching Sean O’Donnell with Aki Berg, there were Norstrom with O’Donnell, Blake with rookie Fran Kaberle, Garry Galley with Berg, skating at Iceoplex.

But there was a method to this madness, and it had nothing--well, little--to do with the goals deluge at Edmonton.

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“A lot of the teams we’re playing, coming up now, Boston, Phoenix, San Jose . . . have one dominant line,” said Coach Andy Murray. “There are situations where we have Rob Blake out in offensive roles on power plays and so on, and other teams come back [after power plays] with their top line. We want to make sure we’ve got some combinations that can work effectively against that.”

The idea is that after Blake has played a shift or two on the power play, he will require rest, usually when the opposition’s top line is on the ice.

By having O’Donnell and Norstrom ready to play together--neither is on the power play--the Kings are better prepared for the top lines of Boston, Phoenix et al.

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“I really don’t read too much into it,” said Norstrom of skating with O’Donnell instead of Blake during practice. “We did give up a lot of goals at Edmonton, and I don’t know who I’ll be playing with on Wednesday night. But it’s good for them to get a look at different people working together.”

The moves could result in a reduction of Blake’s ice time, which has been about four minutes a game more than last season’s because he played on every specialty team.

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Murray also spent part of Monday with goalie Jamie Storr, who has played only one period in the seven games so far.

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“He totally understands,” said Murray of the decision to play Stephane Fiset, who has been hot.

Said Storr, “I told him, ‘You can’t do it any other way.’ ”

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Winger Luc Robitaille had his knee checked by doctors Monday after he was hit by Calgary’s Bill Lindsay on Friday night. After an examination, the knee was pronounced sound, and Robitaille practiced Monday morning. . . . Left wing Steve McKenna practiced Monday after having sat out two weeks because of eye surgery.

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