Smolinski Injury Hurts as Much as 2-1 King Loss

The war of attrition that has become the Kings’ season claimed another victim Monday night.

With 16.5 seconds to play in a 2-1 Coyote victory, Travis Green slipped in the corner and rolled into King center Bryan Smolinski, bending his right knee severely in and felling him.

Smolinski lay on the America West Arena ice for several minutes before being helped off, and King Coach Andy Murray assessed the damage as a ligament injury of the kind that requires about six weeks of rehabilitation.

Team trainer Pete Demers was more cautious, and Smolinski is being sent back to Southern California today for a doctor’s evaluation while the Kings move on to Vancouver.

“This really hurts us,” said Glen Murray, who generally plays on the line with Smolinski and who had the Kings’ only goal. “Having Blakie out too, we’re going to have to find a way to score.”

Defenseman/captain Rob Blake sat out the game because of a bone bruise in his knee, suffered in a win over the Mighty Ducks on Saturday. When you add Smolinski and Blake to Ziggy Palffy, out since March 15, and Nelson Emerson, out since March 23, there is a sudden dearth in King firepower going into the playoffs.

That has been reflected in their scoring only three times in the last three games.

“You aren’t going to win many games with one goal,” Murray said. “This one, though, we should have at least tied with one.”

The game-winner came when Trevor Letowski took a pass from Jeremy Roenick and blasted a shot past goalie Jamie Storr at 8:54 of the third period.

Roenick was on the end boards and also was on his knees when he sent the pass to Letowski.

That was the problem.

“Jeremy Roenick was an example of what happens when you play hard,” Murray said. “Here’s a guy on his knees, making a play in front of the net. Jeremy Roenick should have been wasted on the boards.

“And then we have a defenseman in front watching the play.”

Roenick was being hammered by defenseman Mattias Norstrom and winger Steve McKenna but was still able to get off the pass, and defenseman Jere Karalahti was caught napping by Letowski.

The play spoiled a strong effort by Storr, who was playing for the first time in five games.

He dealt with Phoenix traffic in the crease that looked like the San Diego Freeway at rush hour, but somehow reached into the crowd time and again for the puck.

He got a lead to play with on Murray’s goal, scored when he took a pass from Jozef Stumpel at 4:16 of the second period. The shot was one of only three the Kings earned in the 20 minutes.

“When you look at the last two games, we haven’t had a lot of shots, and it’s tough to score without shots,” Glen Murray said.

On Saturday, the Kings were shotless in the first period against the Ducks, and their 12-3 shooting disadvantage in the second period Monday night was reminiscent.

“It’s a good feeling after [what] we’ve been going through for the past month,” Roenick said. “Tonight, we played an extremely, extremely disciplined hockey game.”

And the Coyotes--who have won only three of their last 11 games--matched Murray’s goal with one by Dallas Drake at 10:30 of the second period, then got the game-winner from Letowski that accomplished several things:

* It put Phoenix in the playoffs;

* It put them within two points of the Kings for fifth place in the Western Conference standings;

* It ended a 3-0-2 Kings’ run into their own playoff berth.

What happens now is anybody’s guess. Palffy is expected to be back for the playoffs, and Blake could return as soon as Wednesday.

“It just means another person has a chance to step forward,” Andy Murray said.

*

DUCKS: 3

NASHVILLE: 1

The Ducks moved into ninth place in the Western Conference, still trail eighth-place San Jose by three points for the final playoff spot. D3