O’Donnell Knows to Pull Punches

Sean O’Donnell is doing the heavy lifting, which is OK with him and the Kings. It’s the light loads that have been a burden throughout his career.

O’Donnell mixed it up with Washington’s Brendan Witt in the first period Tuesday night after Witt had rewarded the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy with a slash across the chest for Palffy’s assist on a Luc Robitaille goal.

So O’Donnell and Witt ended up in the penalty box, which was fitting punishment for trying to punish each other. It was O’Donnell’s third fighting major in two games, more than he’d like, perhaps, but still better than the old days.

That’s when every slight provoked a challenge, and every challenge provoked two minutes spent in hockey’s jail.

“I didn’t plan on having no minors in the first 10 games, but I did talk to the coaching staff and they wanted to eliminate the costly and unnecessary two minutes,” O’Donnell said.

“It’s a conscious effort on my part to play a little more under control. I might get hit from behind, and before [this season] I might lash back and crosscheck somebody or slash somebody across the legs. Now I’ll just take a number and wait for later.”

The idea is that O’Donnell’s game has advanced to where he is more valuable on the ice than off it. He and Aki Berg have teamed in a defense pairing that, on some nights, takes on the opposition’s No. 1 line.

That’s a privilege formerly reserved for Rob Blake and Mattias Norstrom. On the nights when O’Donnell and Berg are working against the No. 1s, Blake is more available for offensive duty.

“It’s a challenge,” said O’Donnell. “I’m not on the power play . . . and I’m not going to score a lot of goals. Any time [Coach Andy Murray] sees fit to send us against the other team’s top line, I like that.”

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After moving among the league’s elite in penalty killing, the Kings have given up a power play goal in three games in a row and four of their last five games.