Johnson Felt Lucky to See Both His Goals

Craig Johnson and the Kings breathed a sigh of relief when the winger did not suffer a more serious eye injury after taking a high stick from Vitaly Vishnevski of the Mighty Ducks in a 4-2 King victory Jan. 15.

As if to celebrate, Johnson returned to the lineup Monday after a two-game absence and scored two goals in a 6-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

“I was real lucky,” said Johnson, who suffered a corneal abrasion and bleeding behind his right eye. “I was looking to the left and his stick got me more to the outside of the eye, but it got me right in the eye....

“It could have been a lot worse. I was lucky enough that the bleeding stopped [after a few days] and they didn’t have to do laser surgery.”

Johnson’s two-goal effort against the Avalanche was the third of his career, his second this season.

“I guess my legs were a little fresher than normal,” he said.

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While the Kings have turned their season around over the last eight weeks, defenseman Jere Karalahti has mostly served as a cheerleader, having sat out all but four of the last 28 games despite being injury-free.

“Right now Jere’s suffering from the fact our team has played pretty good hockey for about 25 games in a row,” Coach Andy Murray said. “You don’t shift things around too much when that happens.”

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An MRI taken Tuesday on Mathieu Schneider’s left shoulder revealed a strain, the original diagnosis after he left Monday’s game in the first period, and the defenseman’s status was listed as week to week.... Eric Belanger underwent successful surgery on his left wrist and is expected to be sidelined for eight weeks.

TONIGHT

at Minnesota, 5 p.m. PST

Fox Sports Net

Site--Xcel Energy Center.

Radio--KSPN (1110).

Records--Kings, 24-19-7-2. Wild, 17-22-9-5.

Record vs. Wild--1-1-1.

Update--The Kings, 10-3 in January, have matched a club record for most victories in a month and are two shy of the club record for points in a month, established in February 1991 when the Wayne Gretzky-led Kings were 10-2-2.

Jerry Crowe