Flinn Steps In During Attack

The Kings’ Ryan Flinn took his enforcer duties to a new level last week.

He and his fiancee, Danielle Sarowitz, were at their apartment last Wednesday, when they heard shouting. Sarowitz looked outside and saw a man attacking a woman.

A moment later, the attacker was grabbed and tossed aside by 6-foot-5, 250-pound Flinn, who one season accumulated 365 penalty minutes while playing for Halifax of the Quebec junior league.

“I just pulled the guy off her,” said Flinn, who has been out most of the season because of a concussion. “The guy was drunk. He looked a little surprised and started screaming, then he ran off.”

Flinn and Sarowitz stayed with the woman until police arrived, then Flinn went with the police to find the suspect. They found him a few blocks away.

“We got the guy and I gave a statement,” Flinn said. “I walked the lady home, then called it an evening.”

Flinn shrugged about being asked about his actions.

“That’s what anyone would do,” he said.

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The Kings’ Luc Robitaille was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.

“I talked with Luc” Monday, interim Coach John Torchetti said. “He’s not happy. I wouldn’t want a player to be happy, or even OK, with being out of the lineup.”

Robitaille has been held out of a game for non-health reasons 10 times in his 19-season career. Robitaille, who was not at the Kings’ games Monday and Tuesday, could not be reached for comment.

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Before the Mighty Ducks acquired Sean O’Donnell from Phoenix on March 9, he had questions about their scoring depth.

“They’ve been top six or seven in goals-against all year, and the penalty killing has been good,” he said. “The only question mark seemed to be, after Teemu [Selanne], where was the offense going to come from?

“I think with some of the younger players, with Andy McDonald and Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, as the year’s gone on we’ve been getting it from different sources. So I think most of the teams in the West that played Anaheim thought, ‘They don’t score a lot but they play tight defensively.’ And now that we seem to be getting goals from different people, who knows how far the team could go?”

Wherever the Ducks go, they’re counting on O’Donnell to help them get there. A member of the Kings for six seasons, until Minnesota claimed him in the 2000 expansion draft, he fit into General Manager Brian Burke’s blueprint for a team that can withstand, and pose, physical challenges. On Tuesday, he became the 17th player to have played for the Kings and the Ducks.

“We thought that he could be a tough, stay-at-home defenseman, and that’s what we’re getting,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “He’s had to make some adjustments as far as the way we like to do things. We’re pretty simple. We’re north-south. He’s had some adjustment period there, playing the game on his backhand too much, not moving his feet making plays.

“I think that he’s getting more comfortable as we go on a day-to-day basis.”

O’Donnell said the adjustment has been smooth.

“I’ve played a couple years in the league and for a couple different teams -- and a lot of different coaches -- but for the most part, this system is pretty easy on the defense,” said O’Donnell, who moved back to the Hermosa Beach home he lived in when he played for the Kings.

“We like to go to kind of a zone game, where we’re in the other team’s zone as much as possible. [Carlyle] doesn’t really want the defense skating with the puck, as much as just turn and get it up to the forwards quickly as we can and let’s start the forecheck.

“You know, Randy was a defenseman, so he’s talked to me a couple of times. And I’m playing with Ruslan Salei, who’s been around for a while too, and we talk quite a bit.”