Berg Isn’t Left Out Anymore

It wasn’t as though Aki Berg had a choice.

He was going to play right-side defenseman on the just-completed King trip or he was going to watch Jere Karalahti do it.

Berg decided to play.

“The first week of the season, I played the right side,” Berg said. “I didn’t play well. It was hard for me. Everything was different.

“It was like if you write with one hand and then switch over and try to write with the other.”

And then Berg sat. The reason given was an ankle injury, suffered when he was hit with a puck in a game at Dallas on Dec. 29.

The actual reason was that Karalahti was playing well and Berg was having puck-handling problems and could play only on the left side. And then Karalahti didn’t play so well, and Berg was given a choice.

He made the right one.

“He has quietly been one of the best players on this trip for us,” Coach Andy Murray said.

King coaches are watching Berg closely, looking for signs of the inconsistency that has plagued him over his career.

“Now, it feels pretty good,” said Berg, who has been paired with Mathieu Schneider and credits him for help in the transition.

“I was a little afraid [of the switch], but not anymore. The last few games have been good. It’s good to learn this now.”

Now because though Berg is in his fifth season in the NHL, he is only 23. And he now has the ability to play on both sides of the ice.

*

The Kings sent Marko Tuomainen back to Lowell of the American Hockey League for another conditioning assignment.

He just finished one, reported to Philadelphia for Monday’s game and was scratched.

*

The Flyers’ Kent Manderville had apparently scored an empty-net goal with 1:31 to play Monday night, but when the goal was waved off because he had hooked the Kings’ Lubomir Visnovsky, who was scrambling to deflect the puck, there was no surprise.

Manderville has not scored in 116 consecutive games.

“To be honest with you, I looked around and I saw him fall,” Manderville said. “When it’s been this long, you expect the worst.”

*

Though he refuses to play with Philadelphia, center Eric Lindros is being monitored closely by Flyer officials. He is working out in Toronto and says he will play for no one but the Maple Leafs.

After a flirtation with Lindros, the Kings have backed off in their inquiries about him, taking him at his word that he will play only in Toronto.

*

After leaving immediately following the game in Philadelphia and flying across the country, the Kings have today off.