Murray Unafraid of Change

Give Andy Murray this much: When he sets his mind to something, he’s going to do it or know the reason why.

That’s why the Kings will look different tonight when they line up against the Stars.

“We wanted to try this back in training camp,” Murray said of a line of center Jozef Stumpel and wingers Ziggy Palffy and Tomas Vlasak.

In effect, Murray is rejoining Czechoslovakia--which divided in 1992--by lining up Vlasak, a Czech, with Slovaks Stumpel and Palffy. And he’s taking it a step further on the power play, with the three joining defensemen Jaroslav Modry, a Czech, and Lubomir Visnovsky a Slovak.

The questions involve whether this reunification will work against Dallas, and what it does to the rest of the lineup.

“Really, the only change is, we are flip-flopping [Steve] Reinprecht and [Bryan] Smolinski,” Murray said in a bit of oversimplifying.

Reinprecht, a rookie, centers a line that includes wingers Luc Robitaille and Glen Murray. Smolinski will center a line on which he is flanked by Nelson Emerson and Eric Belanger.

Belanger, a center for eight games, has been a winger since Stumpel ended his holdout. He’s also a center if Stumpel can’t handle the 18-20 minutes that Murray plans for him tonight.

Most of the moves were planned before training camp and shelved when Stumpel’s holdout extended into the season. That they are coming out now can be attributed to a few things.

“We did lose, 7-1, [at St. Louis on Thursday],” Murray reminded. “We haven’t won in three games [0-2-1]. Jozef Stumpel is back. And two guys who were in the lineup [Thursday night] can’t play [against Dallas].”

They are Craig Johnson, who took a shot from Modry on the instep; and Jason Blake, who took the Blues’ Chris Pronger’s stick against his hip on a cross-check.

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One other change for tonight will return Jamie Storr to goal, instead of Steve Passmore, who struggled in St. Louis after playing exceptionally well against Nashville and Boston.

Storr has spent time with goalie consultant Don Edwards, trying to mend an injured psyche suffered when he gave up four goals to Phoenix in slightly less than half of Sunday’s game.

TONIGHT

at Dallas, 5 p.m.

* Site--Reunion Arena.

* Radio--KRLA (1110).

* Records--Kings 3-3-2-0, Stars 5-2-1-0.

* Record vs. Stars--(1999-2000) 1-5.

* Update--Dallas rested goalie Eddie Belfour in its Friday game at Chicago and for cause. Belfour absolutely feasts on the Kings. He was 4-1 against them last season with a 1.76 goals-against average. He is 20-8-4 against them over his career. Brett Hull leads Dallas in scoring with four goals and four assists.