Stumpel Is Day to Day Because of Broken Toe

King center Jozef Stumpel suffered a broken small toe on his right foot when he was hit by a shot in the second period of Thursday night’s game against the New York Rangers.

Stumpel skated off the ice with a noticeable limp, and his spot on a line with Ziggy Palffy and Bryan Smolinski was taken by fourth-line center Eric Belanger.

Smolinski moved in at center on the power play, with Palffy and Luc Robitaille.

Stumpel’s status is being called day to day and he will be examined again today.

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Assists in the first and second periods Thursday made Robitaille the second-leading points producer among left wings in NHL history.

His 1,189 points trail Johnny Bucyk (1,369) and put him a point ahead of Buffalo’s Dave Andreychuk.

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Craig Hartsburg’s firing by the Mighty Ducks had nothing to do with their play against the Kings.

The Ducks were 8-4-2 against the Kings in his two-plus seasons, 1-1 against them this season.

Perhaps the most popular image of Hartsburg and King Coach Andy Murray, at least as far as the Kings are concerned, is from the last game at the Great Western Forum, an exhibition in September 1998 in which fights broke out late in a King blowout victory.

There is a picture of Murray, only a few weeks removed from coaching a high school team, with his index finger pointed at Hartsburg, an NHL veteran player and coach, lecturing him on decorum.

The fights’ instigator was Stu Grimson, now a King, who roughed up Palffy.