Emerson Available to Play but Johnson Retains His Spot

In something of a surprise, King winger Nelson Emerson was cleared to play in Monday’s Game 3 of the first-round playoffs against Detroit, but was scratched.

Emerson, who suffered a broken right index finger March 23 when he was slashed by Philadelphia’s Damon Langkow, was expected to be sidelined until the third round of the playoffs, but has skated the last three days with the Kings.

“It’s been hard to watch,” he said of Games 1 and 2. “The team welcomed Kelly [Buchberger] and I in and made us comfortable right from the beginning. It’s something you want to be a part of.”

Emerson and Buchberger joined the Kings in a trade from Atlanta on March 13.

King coaches pondered using Emerson, but decided that Craig Johnson had been playing well in Emerson’s former spot on a line with Bryan Smolinski and Glen Murray. Whether Emerson could move into the lineup for Wednesday’s Game 4 remains to be seen.

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Defenseman Aki Berg, scratched for the first two games, moved onto the ice for Game 3, skating in partnership with Jere Karalahti in a Finnish back line.

Karalahti had been skating with Mattias Norstrom for Games 1 and 2, and Jaroslav Modry had been paired with Rob Blake.

Norstrom and Blake were teamed Monday night, as they have been for most of the regular season.

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Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom, Kris Draper and Darren McCarty took a stroll on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on Sunday, and unlike anywhere in Michigan passed the afternoon unnoticed.

“That’s one place where you can go and you’re not going to be recognized,” McCarty told the Detroit Free Press on Monday. “I’ll tell you, that place . . . that has every single walk of life available.”

Said Lidstrom: “There are a lot of other people to watch there. There are lots of freak shows there.”