Kings' practice: Smyth skates, Greene doesn't

Kings’ practice: Smyth skates, Greene doesn’t

Sports Columnist

Nov. 29, 2009 1:11 PM PT

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Left wing Ryan Smyth got back onto the ice today for the first time since he suffered what the Kings insist on calling ‘an upper-body injury’ on Nov. 16.

However, a club spokesman echoed what Coach Terry Murray said on Saturday in discussing Smyth’s recovery: The timetable for his return remains at four weeks and hasn’t been moved up.

That would put the date at mid-December, and you know that Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams are hoping Smyth will return sooner than that. Kopitar has gone nine games without a goal -- though he did score in the shootout Saturday to contribute to the Kings’ 2-1 victory over Chicago -- and Williams has gone eight games without a goal. Kopitar also was passed in the NHL scoring race by Joe Thornton of the Sharks and Marian Gaborik of the Rangers.

Matt Greene had today off as a ‘therapy day,’ which probably means he’s banged up. He played only 16 minutes, 54 seconds on Saturday, the fewest minutes of the Kings’ six defensemen. Drew Doughty played a team-high 25:37.

-- Helene Elliott

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.