Johnson debuts in Kings’ loss

For a team that will fail to qualify for the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season, the Kings had plenty of excitement for Thursday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks at Staples Center.

The reason? The NHL debut of defenseman Jack Johnson.

Johnson, the highly touted rookie who signed this week, did not execute the type of highlight plays that made him a legend at the University of Michigan, but he did not disappoint.

In 18 minutes 45 seconds of ice time, Johnson was feisty and looked comfortable with his new teammates, though his presence did not inspire the Kings to victory. They lost, 4-2, to the Northwest Division-leading Canucks in front of an announced crowd of 17,916.

“It was a lot of fun, but I was pretty nervous at the start,” said Johnson, who wore No. 33. “I felt kind of jittery at first but felt better toward the end of the game.”

Daniel Sedin had two goals and former Kings forward Bryan Smolinski and Taylor Pyatt scored once each for the Canucks, who made their limited shots count against Sean Burke. The Kings goaltender finished with 18 saves, compared to 32 by Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo.

The defeat was the Kings’ third in a row, but the night wasn’t a total loss because of Johnson.

Taken third overall in the 2005 draft by Carolina, Johnson turned down multiple opportunities to sign with the Hurricanes last year and remained in college. Then in October, Carolina traded his rights to the Kings in a package that also included defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky and sent Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger to the Hurricanes. With captain Rob Blake not in the lineup because of a neck sprain, Johnson started the game paired with defenseman Jamie Heward and displayed his versatility in the first period when he was on the ice for 4:42 with one shot on goal.

“I thought he was tremendous out there,” Burke said. “He was aggressive and really poised for a young guy. It’s obvious that he has some great skill.... With the injuries we have to our [defense], he’s going to get a chance to go out there and play. He showed tonight he can handle that.”

From pressuring veteran forward Trevor Linden into the corner in the Kings’ zone to jumping into a play around the Canucks’ net, Johnson looked sharp as he blended in nicely with the Kings’ current youth movement -- a movement that includes Anze Kopitar, who scored his 19th goal Thursday and ranks fifth all-time in rookie scoring for the Kings with 58 points, and Dustin Brown, who scored his career-high 16th goal.

In the second period, Johnson found himself on the wrong end of an old-fashioned NHL hip-check when Vancouver’s Jan Bulis upended him near the sideboards. Johnson began the play when he skated up ice into the neutral zone where he met Bulis, who flipped him with a clean hit that sparked a brief scrum between the teams.

“It was a good hit; I figured something like that would happen sooner or later,” said Johnson, who played for Team USA at the 2006 and 2007 world junior hockey championships. “It’s good that I got that first one out of the way. In college, it’s easier to get around a player like that.”

Veteran forward Scott Thornton jumped to Johnson’s defense and tried to get to Bulis while Johnson watched.

Although it showed great team unity, Thornton picked up a roughing penalty and while he was in the box, Vancouver scored its second power-play goal of the game when Daniel Sedin knocked in a rebound, giving the Canucks a 2-1 lead.

The Canucks, who have not lost in regulation in eight games, took a 3-1 lead on a nifty backhand goal by Taylor Pyatt late in the second period, and then held on after Kopitar’s goal made it 3-2 seven minutes into the third. Sedin added an empty-net goal to finish the scoring.

lonnie.white@latimes.com