Karalahti makes impact blocking, hitting By Kevin Allen,
USA TODAY Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jere Karalahti turned
Rob Blake's pain into his gain, performing well enough as Blake's replacement
to be named USA TODAY's Impact Player of the Week. In
two games, the Finnish-born blueliner had a goal, two assists and was plus-5.
The player is determined by a computerized comparison of his statistics to the
league average for that week. "He was solid in
those games," says Kings coach Andy Murray. "We do our own statistics,
what we call efficiency stats, and he led us in blocked shots and hits." Karalahti,
25, had been a healthy scratch for eight games before playing Thursday against
Carolina. "In our eight-game homestand, even though
our record was horrendous, we weren't giving up many scoring chances," Murray
says. "The highest number of scoring chances we gave up was 13 in a game.
So there wasn't much reason to adjust our defense." The
Kings are carrying seven defensemen, and Karalahti is the seventh defenseman. "He
just has to be better than one guy," Murray says bluntly. "He is a guy
who needs to play with an edge. He did play with an edge in those two games. But
the big thing for him is consistency, not two games in a row, but seven or eight
games in a row."
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