KINGS-DUCKS REPORT

Some collective breaths were held when Rob Blake skated off the ice and down the tunnel to the dressing room near the end of the second period Monday night.

On the King bench, players sensed a comeback from a serious back injury might have been aborted with a check of Matt Cullen into the boards.

“It was funny,” Blake said, describing the blow that took his breath away, one he wasn’t used to because his primary checking weapons are his hips, and they have been taken away by the hairline fracture of his lumbar vertebra. Against Cullen, the check was more an upper-body blow.

Blake recovered quickly enough to skate in the third period and was on the ice for Palffy’s game-winning goal on an overtime power play, after the Mighty Ducks’ Niclas Havelid had high-sticked Blake in the head.

“There was a big sigh of relief from our guys when we found out he was all right,” Murray said.

TONIGHT

Mighty Ducks at Kings

Fox Sports Net West

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KRLA (1110), KDIS (710).

* Records--Kings 4-4-2-0, Ducks 4-2-1-2.

* Kings vs. Ducks--Kings, 1-0.

* Update--The Kings killed six of seven penalties in Monday’s game against the Ducks, the other resulting in a five-on-three goal by Anaheim’s Marty McInnis. Duck goalie Guy Hebert struggled, something he is unaccustomed to against the Kings. Hebert was 7-2-2 against them over the last two seasons.