KINGS NOTEBOOK: LINE SHAKEUP SPARKS OFFENSE.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL

Staff Writer

Though overshadowed by the team's defensive troubles Friday, breaking up the first line gave the Kings a more balanced offense.

Michael Cammalleri provided a spark to the second line of Derek Armstrong and Alexander Frolov while the first line kept performing at a high level with Ladislav Nagy joining Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.

Cammalleri practiced with the second line again Saturday, and it looks as if the change will stick for today's game against Detroit.

"He's playing with so much desire to have the puck right now, and I think that's something I saw Armstrong and Frolov do a little bit more than they had in previous games," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "So that's a good sign."

Armstrong, Frolov and Nagy had combined for three points in the previous four games. They totaled five points Friday.

"I love playing with those guys," Cammalleri said of Armstrong and Frolov. "I've played probably more games with those two guys than any other guys in the NHL."

That trio played together a lot last season. Nagy, who hadn't played with Kopitar or Brown before, managed two assists.

"You can't have one line that's producing every night and maybe each night it's not enough, and that showed against St. Louis," Kopitar said. "We balanced out our lineup and now all the lines are producing some goals."

Preissing returns: Defenseman Tom Preissing returned to practice after missing the past twogames with a mysterious illness.

"It just kind of came on suddenly," Preissing said. "I woke up from my pregame nap in Dallas and just felt a little off-center and disoriented. We kind of ruled out things it wasn't. We don't think it was anything serious."

Preissing is expected to play today. If he does, Crawford said he would return the defensive pairings to their previous state of Rob Blake-Lubomir Visnovsky, Jack Johnson-Jaroslav Modry and Preissing-Brad Stuart.

Johnson, considered a future star, played with veteran captain Blake for the first time Friday.

"He's very mobile," Blake said of Johnson. "He's easy to play with. He has little, subtle fakes that throw the defense off. I'm going to push him to jump as much as he can because I think he's our best skater on defense, and he can be going all the time.

"The lines and defensive players are going to change throughout the season. We understand that. Hopefully we'll have a few more games together."

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Kings vs. Detroit, 5 p.m., Staples Center.

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