It was a pretty good week for Dustin Brown.
Sunday, the Kings forward played in his first NHL All-Star game -- as a bonus, in historic Montreal -- and Monday, he was selected as the NHL's First Star of the Week for his play in the two games leading up to the All-Star break.
Brown had an assist and two shots on goal in the game, which saw the Eastern Conference team beat Brown's Western Conference squad 12-11 in a shootout. But, of course, the weekend had very little to do with such numbers.
"A great experiernce," Brown said Tuesday after his first practice with the Kings since the All-Star Game. (He couldn't get a flight out of Montreal until 1 p.m. Monday and so missed the team's afternoon practice in El Segundo.)
"Being in Montreal was pretty exciting, obviously, with the history there of hockey. And it was good to get a good chance to get to know some guys that I've never gotten to know personally, off the ice."
Two of those were his linemates in Sunday's game, Shane Doan of Phoenix and Mike Modano of Dallas.
"Being American, it was kind of cool to meet Mo (the top American-born scorer in NHL history). And Shane, I've played against him for so long, it was good to get to know him. He's a really good guy. It just gives you a different perspective than playing against them."
Brown also enjoyed his best-seat-in-the-house perspective for Saturday's skills competition, in which players competed in a number of individual events.
"I didn't really didn't do any skills, so for me, it was just sit there and enjoy it," he said. "That was kind of cool to get the perspective. The hardest shot (won by Boston's Zdeno Chara with a record 105.4-mph blast) and accuracy (won by Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin) are probably my two favorites growing up, and it's kind of fun to see how they do it. It's a lot more simple than I thought it would be.
"We kind of just showed up and went on the ice, so it was all right for me."
Since the NHL announces its Three Stars of the Week on Mondays, while he was traveling, Brown didn't know of the award until he showed up at practice Tuesday morning.
"It's obviously pretty cool," he said, "but it's one of those things that you've got to kind of put it on the back burner, because there are much bigger things at hand."
Brown had the game-winning goal in L.A.'s wins in the last two games before the All-Star break, a 5-2 victory at Minnesota and a 6-5 win at Colorado, and was plus-four in the two games.
"If we don't win those games, I'm probably not first star," he said. "... If I could have that performance night in and night out, it would be great."
Good to go: Goaltender Erik Ersberg, who missed the last two games with the NHL-standard undisclosed injury, came off the ice Tuesday and declared himself as available for duty on Thursday, when the Kings resume the season against Colorado.
"I don't know if he's going to put me in the game," Ersberg said, referring to coach Terry Murray, "but I'll be good enough to be on the bench, and I'm good enough to play, too."
Murray agreed with that assessment.
"He indicated he's better today with yesterday," said Murray. "I asked him yesterday: '(Jonathan) Quick's going to play on Thursday, but if I need you to go in, can you?' Yesterday, it was not real sure. Not 100 percent. But today he seemed to be better as we got to the end of the practice, and able to do everything he needs to, to go in the game. So he's fine. We're not going to call anybody up."
Not yet: On the other hand, Oscar Moller -- while skating hard in practice -- is not yet ready to return from the broken collarbone he suffered at the World Junior Championships. Murray noted that the usual prognosis for recovery from a break is four to six weeks, and today (Wednesday) marks 28 days from the initial injury.
"Getting better, but not there yet," said Murray. "He's pretty excited about getting back at it, but we've got to make sure it's right."
Moller was scheduled for a medical exam after Tuesday's practice that could set a return date and determine if he travels with the team at the start of the 11-day, six-game road trip that begins Saturday in Montreal.
"My policy is don't take players on the road when they're injured," said Murray. "There are exceptions. We have people back here that can do the skating and the rehab work, but if the doctor says he's close and there's the possibility that he could be in as we get to the latter part of the road trip, then we've got to discuss that."