ANAHEIM — Corey Perry pushed off with his right leg as he began to skate Monday evening at Honda Center, just as he had done a thousand times. This time, he felt something pop in his right knee and headed directly for the dressing room before the Ducks’ exhibition game against the Arizona Coyotes.

“Usually, when he has something like that within 15 to 20 minutes he walks away,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said of Perry, a former 50-goal scorer who was the Hart Trophy winner as the MVP of the NHL in 2010-11. “He wasn’t walking away.”

A subsequent examination Tuesday revealed torn meniscus and surgery was scheduled for Wednesday. It also was decided that it was as good a time as any to mend the damaged MCL in Perry’s knee, which had been troubling him for several seasons.

Dr. Orr Limpisvasti, the Ducks medical director, performed the operation and gave an estimate of up to five months for Perry’s recovery and rehabilitation. Perry could be back on the ice by March 1, in time for a playoff push, assuming the Ducks are in a position to challenge for the postseason.

“They saved his right meniscus, which was flopped over, and they also fixed his MCL that has been bad for the last three or four years, so they fixed that,” Murray said. “We talked (Tuesday) night and we, and Corey, decided it was time to get that (the damaged ligament) fixed.”

Perry was not immediately available for comment. He and the Ducks had hoped for a bounce-back season in 2018-19 after his production dropped to 17 goals last season from 19 in 2016-17 and from 34 in 2015-16. He set career highs of 50 goals and 98 points in 2010-11 and was the league MVP.

“He was doing the normal things he does at the end (of the warmup) and he pushed off hard on the right leg and it popped,” Murray said. “Obviously, that’s because the MCL wasn’t tight. He’d been fighting that even though he wears braces on both knees.

“Maybe, as I tried to say to him (Tuesday), in this dark cloud, maybe the silver lining is he gets it corrected. Let’s face it, Corey is a competitor and he wouldn’t come out of the lineup. He just keeps coming back. Maybe we should have fixed it a long time ago. Hindsight is easy.”

Perry’s absence created an immediate opening on center Ryan Getzlaf’s right wing, one that could be filled by Ondrej Kase, a 22-year-old from the Czech Republic who had a breakout season in 2017-18, when he scored 20 goals and 38 points in 66 games.

Or the Ducks could gamble that 21-year-old rookie Troy Terry is ready to make the dramatic leap directly onto their top line after a sensational collegiate and junior-level career that also included a spot on the 2018 U.S. Olympic team. Terry was an NCAA champion at the University of Denver.

Kase skated with left wing Jakob Silfverberg and center Adam Henrique during the Ducks’ 7-4 victory Wednesday over the Kings at Honda Center in their next-to-last exhibition game. Terry formed a line with Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell.

“It’s a big blow to our club,” defenseman Cam Fowler said of losing Perry. “You feel for Corey, first and foremost. You don’t really think so much about the team. It’s just hard news for him and his family. Unfortunately, it is part of the business and we have to move on. We have a lot of young guys who are making an impact on this preseason. Those are hard skates, or shoes, to fill, but we do have some young guys who are ready to make an impact. So that’s encouraging.”

In addition to playing without Perry for five months, the Ducks also are expected to be without right wing Patrick Eaves for the start of the regular season, which begins next Wednesday in San Jose. Eaves has not been medically cleared to practice or play after undergoing shoulder surgery last season.

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NHL postpones playoff games for Thursday and Friday Plus, center Ryan Kesler continued to make slow but steady progress in his buildup after he had major hip surgery in the summer of 2017. Kesler also hasn’t been cleared to practice or play, but he did join his teammates for their non-contact skate Wednesday morning.

Finally, the Ducks also are without left wing Nick Ritchie, an unsigned restricted free agent who has missed all of training camp, plus five exhibition games. The absences of Perry, Eaves, Kesler and Ritchie could give the Ducks a far different look when they face the Sharks to start 2018-19.

With only one week to go before opening the season, the Ducks still have a number of rookies and prospects active in training camp, including Terry, centers Isac Lundestrom, Sam Steel and Ben Street and wingers Joseph Blandisi, Max Comtois and Kiefer Sherwood.

Comtois had two goals and an assist and Lundestrom had an assist in the win over the Kings.

“It’s an opportunity here for some other people,” Murray said of replacing Perry, who is entering the sixth season of an eight-year, $69-million contract he signed March 18, 2013. He carries a salary-cap hit of $8.625 million, highest on the team this season. “People are going to have to step up.”

DUCKS TOP KINGS

Adam Henrique and Max Comtois each had two goals and an assist for the Ducks in their 7-4 exhibition victory at Honda Center. Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and two assists, Rickard Rakell and Andrej Sustr also scored, and Ryan Miller made 18 saves.

Dion Phaneuf, Emerson Etem, Austin Wagner and Tanner Pearson scored for the Kings. Jack Campbell allowed six goals on 19 shots in two periods, and Calvin Peterson stopped 11 of 12 shots in the third.