Laperriere Has Torn Ligament, Ferraro Probable for Friday

Ray Ferraro has watched the Kings’ first two games from a vantage point high in arenas in Edmonton and Vancouver, and he wants badly to get back into the lineup.

But not this way.

“I want to be in there because they want me to be in there, not because Lapy’s hurt,” Ferraro said about Ian Laperriere, the King center who was injured Monday at Vancouver. “I went through that last year and I hope that he’s just twisted his knee and is going to be out a week.”

Ten minutes later Tuesday, it was announced that Laperriere had partially torn a knee ligament and would be out a minimum of two weeks and probably longer. Treatment will be done through rehabilitation at first, to see if surgery can be avoided.

Coach Larry Robinson said that Ferraro is probably the replacement for Friday’s home opener against Boston--Roman Vopat, who also was scratched for the first two games, is also a center--and Ferraro worked out Tuesday with a line that included Sandy Moger and Matt Johnson. Laperriere centered that line for the first two games.

But Ferraro might not center it Friday.

“There are a lot of things we can do with him,” Robinson said.

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Robinson said he had reviewed the shot by Rob Blake in Monday’s game--a goal that would have tied the score, 3-3, had it not been waved off because Moger was said to have been in the Vancouver crease--”about 16 times” and has not changed his stance that it was a bad call.

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The first line of Jozef Stumpel, Glen Murray and Vladimir Tsyplakov does not have a point and has only eight shots on goal in six periods.

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By coaches’ opinions, the Kings had 21 legitimate chances to score at Vancouver and the Canucks had eight, which made the 4-2 loss a bit harder to swallow Tuesday. Robinson said credit should be given to Vancouver goalie Garth Snow for thwarting the Kings.

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Yanic Perreault has scored his three goals on six shots.