Blake Home With Injured Knee

King defenseman and captain Rob Blake was at home in Manhattan Beach on Monday night, nursing a bone bruise in his knee, sustained when he had problems after check by the Mighty Ducks’ Ted Donato.

The injury, suffered Saturday, did not keep Blake off the ice for Sunday’s practice but kept him off the team plane to Phoenix.

He is to be examined again today and his availability for Wednesday night’s game at Vancouver is still to be determined.

“If he can play, he will play,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “Our job is to finish as high as we can.

“I’ve heard Wednesday-Friday and Thursday-Saturday [for next week’s first-round playoff games], so either way there will be some time to rest.”

Those playoff dates will be determined by television, as usual, and will be influenced by the Kings’ first-round opponent.

Games 3 and 4 probably will be on April 17 and 19 at Staples Center.

Jere Karalahti was paired with Mattias Norstrom in Blake’s absence Monday night, and Jaroslav Modry was paired with Aki Berg, Karalahti’s usual partner.

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Add winger Ziggy Palffy to the list of “if he can play, he will play,” as noted by Murray.

The Kings would like to get Palffy into a game or two before the playoffs, but he would have to make accelerated progress this week to play by Friday against Dallas or Sunday against the Mighty Ducks.

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Winger Nelson Emerson, who suffered a broken index finger when he was slashed by Philadelphia’s Daymond Langkow on March 23, will not be ready to play again until the conference finals, should the Kings advance that far.