Emerson Frustrated by Play

The idea was to get a goal scorer along with Kelly Buchberger, who was going to bring the Kings leadership and grit from Atlanta last season at the trade deadline.

Donald Audette was the price, as he wanted to be.

Nelson Emerson has a history of scoring, after all, 33 goals at Winnipeg, 29 at Hartford, 21 at Carolina.

Five with the Kings this season.

“We’d like to think we could get 15 goals from Nelson Emerson,” Coach Andy Murray said.

The five goals have come with nine assists for 14 points.

Murray expects 15 goals because Emerson plays on a line with Bob Corkum and Buchberger, and they tend to check the opposition’s top scorers. Top-scoring lines frequently cheat toward the offense, and the Buchberger-Corkum-Emerson line would create mistakes that a vulnerable offense-oriented line couldn’t overcome.

The reality, says Emerson, is something else.

“A line like that tends to control the puck,” he said. “That makes it harder.”

Emerson has been frustrated this season, once going 16 games without a goal. He has one goal in his last 23 games, and along the way, Emerson, a mild-mannered sort, has slammed his stick against the boards when a rare scoring chance missed the net.

He has tried to make up for the shortage with defense, but with his slight build he has been knocked all over the ice.

“When I played midget, I was down on the ice all the time too,” he said.

Rob Blake, a childhood friend, made the case for Emerson in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Toronto.

“Nelson Emerson went down on the puck [to block a shot] with 26 seconds left,” Blake said. “If he hadn’t, they get the puck along the boards and a good shot. That’s the kind of commitment we need.”

It’s what’s keeping Emerson going right now while he seeks to regain his scoring touch and takes stock of his career.

“I only wanted to play one game in the NHL, and I’ve played 700,” he said.

And now he looks for 10 more goals the rest of the season.

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The Kings took Thursday off before traveling to Raleigh, N.C., where they will practice today in preparation for a Saturday game against the Carolina Hurricanes. It will be the Kings’ first game in the new Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena.