Murray Respectfully Scratched Audette

When Donald Audette was scratched from Thursday night’s game against Edmonton, it was handled a bit differently than the usual pregame notification.

Coach Andy Murray called Audette at home in the afternoon and told him that Luc Robitaille would be moving to the line with Bryan Smolinski and Glen Murray, and that Vladimir Tsyplakov would move into Robitaille’s place on the line with Jozef Stumpel and Ziggy Palffy.

“I felt I owed him that respect as a veteran player,” Murray said. “I thought it would be better than him coming down, getting warmed up and then calling him into the coach’s office and telling him he was scratched.”

Knowing he wasn’t going to play, Audette stayed home.

“I just told him I would see him at practice at 11 o’clock the next day,” Murray said.

Audette skated with the scratches Friday, then with the fourth line Saturday, in each case doing extra work. He had one goal in his last 11 games after scoring 10 goals and getting 10 assists in the first 25.

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The Kings skated several extra defensemen Saturday, including Rich Brennan, who was brought in from Lowell of the AHL to replace injured Aki Berg, then was not added to the roster because Berg was able to play.

Brennan was kept around because Lowell does not play for a week, and because the Kings were Y2K-shy about flying him back to Massachusetts.

Berg said he experienced no discomfort wearing rib pads for the first time Thursday, even while tangling with the Oilers’ Mike Grier in the first period and Ryan Smith in the third.

Berg suffered a cracked rib in a Dec. 22 game against San Jose, was scratched for the Phoenix and Colorado games and was questionable against Edmonton.

Sean O’Donnell is scheduled to return to the team for Monday’s game against Dallas after spending a week in Ottawa to deal with a family emergency.