From the morning skate, Game 1 of 82

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Dustin Brown will start his sixth season with the Kings tonight when they face Phoenix at Staples Center, and even he can’t quite believe he’s been around this long. ‘It feels like it was just yesterday that it was my first year,’ he said after the team’s morning skate at the Toyota Sports Center. None of his previous five seasons has included a trip to the playoffs. He’s ready for that to end. ‘I think we believe in this room we have a good team and we can put a lot of wins together as a team,’ he said. ‘We’ve done it right. Management has done it right, building through the draft. We’ve added a couple of pieces here. We have a good team. It’s a matter of players in here performing to their ability and the team performing to its ability and really coming together and playing a team game. ‘I think last year we were in a lot of games but we never really had that belief system that we could beat the Red Wings or the Sharks or some of the better teams. This year I think it will be different for us in this room.’ Coach Terry Murray, after three weeks of what he considered a productive training camp, was eager to get the season going. ‘It’s the anticipation of it. It’s very exciting,’ he said. ‘We know the challenge out there for us is big, and we’ve put a lot of expectations on ourselves, but I think we’re ready to embrace that challenge. The way the team came together at the end of the year last year, through the second half of the season, through the summertime, I feel like training camp has been good. There’s been some real continued consistency in lines and D pairs. I always feel that’s a good thing, to work out their chemistry and their feel for each other. The anticipation is an exciting part of the game.’ Winger Alexander Frolov was among the first players to leave the ice, and Murray said that was because Frolov has been battling a mild stomach virus the past few days. ‘So get him off early and conserve the energy,’ Murray said. Murray also said he and Frolov had a meeting Friday in which they discussed ‘roles and expectations’ for a season in which Murray expects Frolov to top the 32 goals and 59 points he produced last season. ‘I look at the numbers he put up last year and I certainly expect him to get to that again,’ Murray said. ‘Playing on the line with [Michal] Handzus and [Wayne] Simmonds, I think is a real good thing for him. There’s a lot of ice time they’re going to match up against the better lines of the opposition. Check the right way and you’re going to have the puck on your stick a lot. You’re going to get attacks going and offensive opportunities. ‘You put that in with his power play and how many breakaways did he have last year? About 15, and he scored on one of them. So if he gets that figured out he’s going to be a pretty big production player for us.’ No changes from the last few days in terms of lines or defense pairs, so here’s what the lineup should look like: Goal: Jonathan Quick. Backup: Erik Ersberg. Defense: Jack Johnson-Rob Scuderi; Davis Drewiske-Drew Doughty; Alec Martnez-Matt Greene. Sean O’Donnell will miss the first two games because of the suspension he got during the Kings-Islanders exhibition game. Forwards: Ryan Smyth-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams; Teddy Purcell-Jarret Stoll-Dustin Brown; Alexander Frolov-Michal Handzus-Wayne Simmonds; Raitis Ivanans-Brad Richardson-Trevor Lewis. The Kings are 17-15-9 in season openers and 21-12-8 in home openers. Drop the puck! More later at www.latimes.com/sports -- Helene Elliott