Kings mindful of Hanzal’s return

Martin Hanzal will be back in the Phoenix lineup tomorrow for Game 4, after he served a one-game suspension for his hit on Dustin Brown. According to The Arizona Republic, at practice today the Coyotes went back to the top two lines they used to start the series, with Hanzal centering Ray Whitney and Radim Vrbata, and with Antoine Vermette centering Mikkel Boedker and Shane Doan. The Coyotes went with a third line of Daymond Langkow centering Taylor Pyatt and Lauri Korpikoski, and a fourth line of Boyd Gordon centering Kyle Chipchura and Marc-Antoinie Pouliot. On defense, it seems likely that Adrian Aucoin will return to the Coyotes’ lineup.

The big return, though, will be that of Hanzal, a big-bodied center (6-foot-6, 236 pounds) who has three goals and two assists in 10 playoff games and who, in the regular season, had eight goals and 26 assists in 64 games. Jeff Carter said the Kings expect Hanzal to have an impact.

CARTER: “He’s a big part of their team. He’s shown that all year, and in the playoffs here. He kind of maybe settles their minds down a bit, gets people into the right places. We know that he’s going to be fired up, coming out with a strong game after sitting out last game.”