A Line He Won’t Cross

The story of Mattias Norstrom starts, like many other good ones, with Mike Keenan, despot coach and behind-the-bench tyrant.

Norstrom was a fresh-faced neophyte, a young defenseman called up before the New York Rangers’ 1994 playoff run. He was doing a little too much with the puck one day in practice, certainly too much for Keenan’s taste. A young hotshot D-man who thinks he can score?

“Who do you think you are?” Keenan bellowed, accompanying his rant with a punch to Norstrom’s back.

Call Keenan a master motivator. Or Norstrom a quick learner.

It’s become a hockey rarity when Norstrom strays far from the defensive zone, other than occasional rushes a few feet into the offensive zone -- the edge of a jagged cliff in Norstrom’s defense-first world.

The stay-at-home strategy has been good to Norstrom, now in his ninth season with the Kings.

He has scored 10 goals in 657 games, but unlike Sergei Gonchar and Mathieu Schneider -- the league’s highest- and third-highest scoring defensemen -- Norstrom will play in Sunday’s All-Star game in St. Paul, Minn.

The guy who broke a 113-game goal-scoring drought earlier this season -- and, before that, once endured a 171-game streak without a goal -- will be there among Joe Sakic, Mark Messier and Jaromir Jagr.

“It’s laughable,” Norstrom said of his achievements on offense. “Matty Norstrom would have a hot season with three goals, maybe four.”

At the same time, he is the Kings’ most important player.

The captain of the Kings since October 2001, Norstrom is to defense what Bernie Nicholls used to be to offense around here.

Norstrom starts and finishes hits, and ejects the puck out of the defensive zone with quiet and efficient competence. He is fourth in scoring by defensemen on his own team but is first in physicality and technique in a season when the Kings need him more than ever.

On pace to pass 575 man-games lost to injury this season -- believed to be a record, although the NHL does not officially track man-games lost -- the Kings have taken some hits on defense, leaving Norstrom with mostly untested and inexperienced defensive partners.

And yet, the Kings are in a four-way tie for sixth place in the Western Conference -- the top eight make the playoffs -- at the All-Star break.

“I don’t know if Matty notices a difference with who’s in our lineup,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “He’s a perfect example of a professional who doesn’t let things bother him. He goes out and plays hard whether he’s playing with [seven-time All-Star] Rob Blake or [second-year King] Joe Corvo. I have not seen any change in terms of effort or consistency. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s practiced the same and played the same.

“He’s a good fit for me as a coach. I don’t change much. I preach the same message. He’s a good captain for the type of coach I am.”

Sunday’s won’t be Norstrom’s first All-Star game, but it will be more memorable than a 1999 All-Star appearance that fell into his lap when defensemen Kenny Jonsson and Roman Hamrlik were unable to play because of injuries.

“I was the extra reserve,” Norstrom said. “This is a real honor. I’m surprised because of the style of hockey I play, but I think the league has recognized players like us more often the last few years.”

It was thought the Kings would be overlooked for All-Star status after leading scorer Ziggy Palffy was lost for the season because of a dislocated shoulder. Palffy had the scoring touch, the open-ice flair people pay to see.

To find Norstrom, fans have to look in the corners or at the King blue line when an opposing forward tries to enter. The NHL office, which compiles the All-Star teams after fans vote for the starters, found Norstrom, regardless of his microscopic stats on offense.

“It’s not frustrating [to rarely score],” Norstrom insists, laughing. “It’s a realization of what kind of player you are.”