By Rich Hammond

If there really was only one chance to make a first impression, Scott Parse wouldn’t be in the NHL right now.

Fortunately for Parse, the cliché doesn’t always work.

Parse got a first look with the Kings last year, although not much of one, because Kings coaches and management apparently didn’t see anything worth looking at for very long.

The second chance?

Parse has grabbed it with both hands, and doesn’t seem prepared to let go. Called up last week, after a strong start in the AHL, Parse has finally made an impression, and has the look of a player who could stay with the Kings for a long time.

At age 25, on the older end of the "prospect" scale, Parse seems to have figured things out on the ice. Something clicked, although nobody seems to know quite what it is.

"I’m scared to ask," general manager Dean Lombardi joked. "Just keep it going, kid."

Kings head coach Terry Murray said, "He’s surprising the heck out of me."

Called up to replace Justin Williams last week, Parse has played in five games and has one goal, two assists and a plus-1 rating. Parse played 12 minutes, 26 seconds, in the Kings’ comeback victory over Phoenix on Monday, and Murray had enough confidence to give Parse six shifts in a tight third period with veterans Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll.

Parse’s strong play was a contributing factor in both Trevor Lewis’ demotion to Manchester and winger Teddy Purcell’s demotion to the fourth line. Not bad for a player so unimpressive that he didn’t even get into an exhibition game this September.

"I know I'm not that young anymore, and when I get a shot, I've got to make the most of it," Parse said. "I'm just trying to do that here."

Parse’s past week has been the latest, and by far the biggest, high of his up-and-down hockey career, which got going at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Parse left the school, after four seasons, as its all-time leading scorer, with 197 points in 159 games, and signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Kings after his senior year ended. Parse had been drafted by the Kings in the sixth-round after his freshman season.

Shortly before the start of training camp in 2007, which would have been Parse’s first camp, he seriously injured his back while lifting weights and had two herniated discs.

Parse returned to the ice in Jan. 2008 but had little spark, as he split time between Manchester and Reading of the ECHL and totaled just 19 points in 32 games.

Healthy at the start of training camp last year, Parse got in one preseason game but was never a contender to make the team. He went on to total 39 points in 74 games for Manchester, certainly nothing to crow about, but the Kings re-signed him for one year.

Nothing says "last chance" like a 25-year-old prospect on a one-year contract, and when Parse didn’t even get in a preseason game this year, it would have been easy to write him off as a lost cause.

"I didn’t play him in an exhibition game for a reason," Murray said. "I wasn’t seeing enough of what I need from a player like that. He’s not a heavy body. He’s not a bulky guy that’s going to go out and run people over and establish that kind of physical game, but he does produce on the offensive part of the game, with points and goals. He does have to be a creative player and make things happen, and I was not seeing that."

Moreover, there were questions about Parse’s desire. Lombardi indicated that management members would talk to Parse, in an attempt to impress upon him things he needed to improve, but weren’t sure they were getting through.

"That's your development program," Lombardi said. "Sometimes the kid that's the most distant in the classroom is the one that's taking it all in. Sometimes, in his development period, it looked like he wasn't interested. Sometimes those are the kids that are paying attention the most. You never know."

Parse certainly showed that. In his first seven games in Manchester this season, Parse led the Monarch in assists (nine) and points (11). With Williams hurt and Lewis struggling, Parse got a chance to play in the NHL for the first time.

"First, I was excited. I was happy to play here, and get a chance to play here," Parse said. "Then you just think to yourself, you've got to do something and make an impression."

In his first NHL game, Parse had an assist on an important Jarret Stoll goal. In his fourth game, Parse scored his first NHL goal.

The easy presumption was that when Williams returned to health, Parse would be going back to Manchester. That didn’t happen. Parse’s ability to get on the score sheet helped his cause, but not as much as his approach to the game, which impressed Lombardi.

"You always knew the kid had skill," Lombardi said. "He was like a lot of college players. The skill was no problem. But the battle, that's what I'm so impressed with, the way he's paying the price in traffic and getting the 50-50 pucks, getting underneath."

Parse cited his completely healthy summer as one reason for his improved play, but otherwise didn’t have much of an explanation for his change in fortunes this season.

"I don't know if it changed," Parse said.. "I felt I had a good offseason of working out, and felt a lot stronger. I was able to work on my legs all summer, and that really helped me out. I feel healthy and ready to go."

Murray isn’t afraid to use him either. Purcell had won the job as the second-line winger coming out of camp, but when Williams came back and Murray needed to reorganize his top forwards, Parse, not Purcell, got the call to be on a line with Stoll.

Not bad for a player who, less than two months ago, apparently showed so little that he got a plane ticket to Manchester without even a courtesy preseason game first.

"When you go back to the minors this year," Murray said, "after not getting that opportunity (in the preseason), maybe he’s thinking, `Hey, I’ve got to start to prove some things to some people.’ He has come up here and he’s doing a great job fitting in.

"He’s really playing hard, heavy. He’s taking hits, making hits and, as I said, playing very intelligently.

"I like what I’m seeing."