KINGS NOTEBOOK: PRESSURE IS ON PALFFY.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

ATLANTA - When Jason Allison went down with a potentially season-ending knee injury in the first period Tuesday night, Ziggy Palffy's return from a groin injury also became an issue.

Palffy, who has missed six of the past seven games, skated during the morning workout prior to the Kings' 4-0 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers and said he would know today whether he could play Thursday in Chicago.

``It felt pretty good today,'' Palffy said. ``There was no pain. I know this is a bad time with Ally, but I can't let that pressure my return. If I come back and I'm not ready, then both of us could be out a long time.''

Although Kings coach Andy Murray will leave the decision up to Palffy, there is a good chance the return won't come until Saturday against Nashville at Staples Center.

Palffy skated gingerly during practice and has not participated in full contact since facing Detroit a week ago. In that game, he played nearly 23 minutes but said he was ``between 50-60 percent healthy.''

Despite the graveness of Allison's injury, Kings teammates agreed Palffy should not return early. One was Ian Laperriere, who missed all of training camp after undergoing abdominal surgery. Laperriere said his injury began with a groin problem that developed during offseason workouts.

``It was the left groin, just like Ziggy's,'' Laperriere said. ``It spread from the left groin to the right hip and then the abdomen. Everything got out of whack. This is not something you want to mess with.''

--Lubo scores: Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, coming off a poor sophomore season after making the NHL's All-Rookie team two years ago, scored two goals against the Thrashers. He has three goals this season.

``I think I was pretty lucky, two goals in three shots,'' said Visnovsky, who scored four goals in 2001-02. ``Last season was very difficult. I did not play well, and I want to get back to where I was as a rookie. But with Jason (and his knee injury), it is hard to see anything good with this night.''

--Season debut: Defenseman Chris McAlpine made his first appearance of the season Tuesday. McAlpine, a member of the Chicago Blackhawks the past two seasons, played two games last weekend for the Kings' minor-league affiliate in Manchester, N.H.

Since he wasn't playing with the big club, McAlpine was loaned to the Monarchs for conditioning purposes.

``We knew we wanted to get him into a game,'' Murray said. ``We want him to play against his old team and thought this was a good chance to get him ready.''

With McAlpine in the game, defenseman Brad Norton was scratched. Left winger Ken Belanger also didn't dress for the game, leaving the Kings without a true enforcer. When the Thrashers' Andy Sutton wiped out Allison in the first period, Laperriere was left to settle the score. Later in the first period, Laperriere went after Sutton and received two minutes for instigating a fight, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

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ZIGGY PALFFY

Kings winger, who has a groin injury, will know today whether he can play Thursday.