No Rest for Palffy, Visnovsky

While their King teammates flew home after Friday night’s game, Ziggy Palffy and Lubomir Visnovsky stayed behind in Arizona.

They’ll fly this morning to Salt Lake City, where they’ll play for Slovakia in an Olympic preliminary-round game against Latvia Sunday night before rejoining the Kings for Monday night’s game against the Dallas Stars at Staples Center.

“Everybody’s excited,” Palffy said before Friday night’s game. “It’s going to be great. Going to the Olympics is always great.”

Slovakia is one of eight teams required to qualify for two spots in the main competition, which starts Friday after NHL play is suspended for 12 days.

“This is the way it’s supposed to be, I guess,” Palffy said of the scheduling conflict between the preliminary round and NHL games. “For us, we’ve got the biggest chance to win this qualifying. I don’t think it’s going to be that big a deal. But we have to be ready because it’s not going to be easy.”

The Kings only last month reversed their previous position, allowing Palffy and Visnovsky to leave the team this weekend. Management had said for months that it would not release them to play in the preliminary round.

Coach Andy Murray again applauded the decision.

“I just think it’s great,” he said. “The Olympics are special, and I think everybody should have the chance to go.”

Visnovsky sat out Friday night’s game after suffering what Murray called a “slight charley horse” late in Thursday night’s 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, but the coach said Visnovsky should be OK to play Sunday night for Slovakia.

*

Murray praised the play of defenseman Mathieu Schneider in his return to the lineup Thursday night. “Some of the rust he showed the first time off the injury list ... didn’t show,” Murray said. Schneider scored a first-period goal after sitting out two games because of a shoulder strain.... With Visnovsky sidelined, defenseman Jere Karalahti returned to the King lineup Friday night for the first time in 19 games.... Defenseman Jaroslav Modry was back in the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s game because of a strained hip flexor.

*

Jerry Crowe