Kings’ Trevor Lewis is ready to put his best foot forward

Reporting from New York —  Trevor Lewis was already used to profound events happening in twos, but this wasn’t what he had in mind.

A father of 10-month-old twins, Lewis was practicing at the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 16 when teammate Alec Martinez hit him in the foot with what Lewis said “wasn’t even a hard shot.” Lewis continued to practice, and didn’t think much of it until he got the locker room “and as soon as I took my skate off my foot kind of blew up.”

Lewis fractured his foot, at a game-day skate, of all things.

“At that time it just kind of seemed like [that’s how] the team’s luck was going,” Lewis said.

The rotten luck reared itself two weeks later when Lewis reported for a checkup and thought he was going to get his boot removed. X-rays showed the bones hadn’t healed properly, and he underwent surgery to stabilize it, which added another month of recovery.

“That was a tough thing to get,” he said. “But it’s fixed now and they did what they had to do. Hopefully I’ll never have to deal with it again.”

The only twos Lewis and the Kings want to see going forward are his No. 22 jersey in a game. That is expected to happen during this road swing with Lewis on track to resume his depth role on the forecheck and penalty kill. The Kings have plugged in Austin Wagner, Matt Luff and Michael Amadio, among others, there in Lewis’ absence.

“I think just having him, especially in his role, I think it would help with the experience down there,” Dustin Brown said. “He helps in calming things down when things get a little chaotic.”

Lewis is returning to a team without good friend Jake Muzzin. They took a trip to Italy together with their wives after the 2015 World Championship and toured Europe for a week. Last spring, Muzzin gave the Lewises a gender reveal party and was there when the twins, a boy and girl, were born.

“We called him Uncle Muzz,” Lewis said. “We were really close. I saw that [he was traded], it was kind of a shock. That was a tough one. I’m happy for him that he’s going to a good spot and close to home for him. I think it will be good for him.”

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Lewis is in a better place as well. The injury afforded him more time with his family but the rest of the experience gnawed at him. A durable player the majority of his 11-year career, Lewis had a hand injury last season but missed only 14 games. He has missed more than 30 games this season.

“It’s probably the longest I’ve ever been out,” he said. “I’m not really used to it. I hate watching games, especially when you know you can be out there and helping the team. I’m just happy to have an end in sight and hopefully [I’ll be] back soon.”

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AT NEW YORK RANGERS

When: Monday, 4 p.m. PST.

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Update: The Kings took a mandatory day off Sunday. If he starts, Jonathan Quick will play in Madison Square Garden for the first time since he moved ahead of Mike Richter, his favorite player growing up, for the fourth-most wins by American goalies. Mika Zibanejad has eight goals and five assists in his last six games. He was the second player in Rangers history to score four or more game-winning goals in five games after Rod Gilbert in 1966.

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Twitter: @curtiszupke