Visnovsky Taking Punishment Well

He walks around the dressing room limping and occasionally you see him on the street, and the limp is there too.

“I have pain,” King defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky says in rapidly developing English.

For some reason, though, the limp disappears when he puts on skates.

“We thought he didn’t really play well in the last home stand,” Coach Andy Murray said Friday. “We were going to rest him against Toronto in the back-to-back on this trip.”

But Visnovsky had two assists at Ottawa on Tuesday night, and so was in the lineup Wednesday in the 2-1 victory over the Maple Leafs.

Even though he was pounded into the boards when he fired the pass to Mathieu Schneider, who sent it to Bryan Smolinski, who scored the winning goal in overtime at Ottawa.

The next night he played his regular role, with playing partner Jaroslav Modry on the ice at even strength and on the power play. And he was on the ice when Modry shot the puck that was tipped into the net by Jozef Stumpel for the winning goal.

“We thought he needed a rest, but he showed us the last two games that we were wrong,” Murray said. “He’s back playing as he played early in the season.”

That was well enough to score five times and dish out 20 assists while compiling a plus-14 in the plus/minus system.

“We think at the end of the season he’ll be on the All-Rookie team,” Murray said.

That’s if he lasts the season. Teams are starting to recognize Visnovsky’s talent and they have tried to take advantage of his diminutive stature all season by posting him up near the net, much as a 6-foot-8 guard will try to post up his 6-1 defender in basketball. And by taking runs at him when he has the puck.

Toronto’s Tie Domi took one Wednesday night, crashing into the boards with a sound that could be heard in Montreal. Visnovsky had seen him coming and merely stepped out of the way, cartoon-style.

Undaunted--perhaps there’s some Coyote in him--Domi tried it again later with the same results.

“Lubo has the ability to slip that check, like a boxer slips a punch,” Murray said.

TONIGHT

at Carolina

10:30 a.m. PST

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena.

* Radio--KSPN (1110).

* Records--Kings 21-17-7-1, Hurricanes 20-16-6-2.

* Record vs. Hurricanes (1999-2000)--0-1.

* Update--Carolina has a 7-0-2 record in its last nine games at home. Goalie Arturs Irbe has five shutouts against the Kings. He will be starting his 33rd game in a row. The Hurricanes activated defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, who has missed the last 10 games after surgery on his left knee.