Kings Venture Into Choppy Waters of Pacific

The Pacific Division is a misnomer, because there’s nothing pacific about Phoenix, San Jose, the Mighty Ducks and Stanley Cup champion Dallas.

“They used to talk about the Eastern Conference being more physical and ours being more skilled,” said King Coach Andy Murray on Thursday. “But it’s pretty gritty hockey out here right now.”

The Kings will be reminded how gritty tonight against Phoenix at Staples Center.

It’s the Kings’ first Pacific Division game of the season. They were a miserable 6-18 against the Pacific last season.

A good argument could be made that the Pacific is the best division in hockey.

“You just have to look at the standings to know how good our division is,” Murray said.

A look shows that the Pacific is 18-7-4 against teams from other divisions. No other division is close.

The Kings are the last Pacific team to play a division game.

“You have to have sort of a special focus because you play more games against them than anybody,” Murray said. “But we’ve really taken each game as a single entity. We just know how tough the teams are in our division.”

They’ll find out firsthand tonight and on Sunday, when they play host to San Jose.

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The Kings will be without third-line right wing Marko Tuomainen for a week to 10 days because his eye filled with blood after he was struck by a puck that caromed off the boards in the second period of a 2-2 tie Wednesday night against Boston.

TONIGHT

vs. Phoenix, 7:30

Fox Sports West 2

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KRLA (1110).

* Records--Kings 4-2-2, Coyotes 4-1-2.

* Record vs. Coyotes (1998-99)--1-5-0.

* Update--Travis Green has been moved to the No. 1 line, where he works between Keith Tkachuk and Dallas Drake, and Green has responded with a goal in the last four games. The reason for the move was the suspension of No. 1 center Jeremy Roenick for slashing former high school teammate Tony Amonte of the Chicago Blackhawks. Roenick will miss tonight’s game, the fifth of his five-game suspension. Defenseman Stan Neckar also will miss the game because of a sprained knee ligament. The Coyotes are expected to play goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov. He has a 4-1-1 record with a 1.81 goals-against average, and that play has prompted Phoenix to take a three-year, $9-million offer to Nikolai Khabibulin off the table.

* Tickets--(888) 546-4752 or (213) 365-3600.