McDonald Makes Avery’s List

King forward Sean Avery, seeker of the spotlight, may not win friends but continues to try to influence enemies. He meets up again with some of his favorite targets tonight, the Mighty Ducks.

In an interview aired on a Canadian sports network last week, Avery listed a handful of players that “I really hate.” Included in that list was Duck forward Andy McDonald.

“That’s what I said?” Avery said Monday.

Asked why he hated McDonald, Avery seemed to squirm a bit and said, “I don’t know.” Asked if he did hate McDonald, Avery backtracked, saying “no.”

Too late. McDonald had already heard about the comment.

“I didn’t know Sean thought so highly of me,” McDonald said. “He’ll do anything to get attention.”

When asked if he ever made anyone’s list of people to hate, McDonald said. “I don’t think so. That’s my first one. It’s quite an honor. Especially his.”

It is not the first time that Avery’s words have drifted into the Duck dressing room. In September, his derogatory comments about French-Canadian players led goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to call Avery a “moron.”

In January, after a loss to Anaheim, Avery ripped the Ducks and forward Chris Kunitz, saying, “We can’t get out-played by ... Kunitz and some of those players.”

Avery’s feud with the Ducks precedes his time with the Kings. While Avery was the property of the Detroit Red Wings a few seasons ago, Ilya Bryzgalov, now the Ducks’ backup goaltender, threw a stick at him during a minor league game.

“He threw it in my general direction,” Avery said.

Bryzgalov, who was Avery’s teammate in Cincinnati, recalled the incident.

“Oh, it was a long time ago,” Bryzgalov said. “It’s just a game situation. Sometimes you get a little too emotional in a game.”

In the King dressing room Monday, Avery began walking quickly away during repeated questioning, and finally said, “My new motto is, ‘If it’s not positive, I’m not dealing with it.’ ”

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The Ducks are approaching several team records as they pursue a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

A win tonight would set a new record with seven consecutive home victories and tie the franchise mark of 40 victories set in 2002-03.

Already they have set records for most home victories in a season (24) and most wins in a month (11), which they accomplished in March. The Ducks need five points in their final eight games to surpass the ‘02-03 total of 95.

“It just shows how hard we’ve been working this year,” Giguere said. “When you do that, you get some results.”

TONIGHT

7:30, FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- Arrowhead Pond.

Radio -- 1110, 1540.

Records -- Kings 40-31-5, Ducks 39-23-12

Series -- Ducks lead, 3-1-2.

Update -- King defenseman Aaron Miller, who has missed three games with a back injury, underwent a series of cortisone shots Friday and said he hoped to return to the lineup this week. Jeff Friesen returned to the Duck lineup Sunday after being a healthy scratch for two games. “There is no issue if he continues to play the way he did [Sunday],” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We think Jeff Friesen can still score goals for our hockey club.”