Gleason Catches a Knee, and a Break

Rookie defenseman Tim Gleason has made it this far based on his skill.

Friday night, he picked up a little luck.

Gleason, 20, left Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second period after taking a scary-looking knee-to-knee hit from Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik while Gleason moved toward center ice with the puck.

Orpik was slapped with a five-minute major penalty for kneeing and Gleason was helped off the ice, but the diagnosis of a bruised left knee was fortunate for Gleason and the Kings, who are already without their top two defensemen.

“I’m pretty stubborn but hopefully I’ll be back Sunday against Chicago,” Gleason said. “I didn’t know he’d catch me like that. It shocked me for a minute and it was like a charley horse after that.”

Defenseman Mattias Norstrom, who was injured in the first five minutes of Thursday’s game against Detroit and felt numbness in his right arm, will be diagnosed today.

Aaron Miller is sidelined up to three more weeks because of a fractured left wrist. Brad Norton is out for at least two more months with a lacerated forearm.

“When you dealt with what we’ve dealt with, you sort of get numb to those things and you just move on,” Coach Andy Murray said.

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Ziggy Palffy was temporarily designated the King captain in place of Norstrom. Defenseman Tomas Zizka was recalled from Manchester (N.H.) to take Norstrom’s roster spot, but he did not dress Friday.... Defenseman Maxim Kuznetsov is still delayed in Russia because of visa problems, but he could receive a Canadian visa next week, General Manager Dave Taylor said after meeting with Kuznetsov’s agent Thursday in Detroit. From there, it would take at least a week for Kuznetsov to receive a U.S. visa.... Left wing Sean Avery missed Friday’s game to attend the funeral of Atlanta Thrasher forward Dan Snyder in Elmira, Ontario. Brad Chartrand replaced Avery on the Kings’ checking line.