Will Kings feel the heat again in Arizona?

Jobing.com Arena hasn’t been the most hospitable place for the Kings. The Kings had a 3-3-0 record against the Phoenix Coyotes last season, but dating back to the previous season, the Kings have lost three of their last four games in Arizona. The Coyotes are expected to start goalie Mike Smith, who has fared well against the Kings. With Tampa Bay last season, Smith stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 1-0 loss. The previous season, Smith stopped 29 of 30 shots in a 3-1 Lightning victory over the Kings. Here’s what Terry Murray said about some of the keys to tonight’s matchup…

MURRAY: “They’ve played us very well. Phoenix has had great success against us in the past couple years, especially in this building. I think one of the keys, always for us, is our checking game against teams that are puck-possession attitude kind of teams, which, to me, Phoenix is. They will constantly bring the puck back if there is nothing there with the possession entry. They will look to regroup and kind of get your spread out in the neutral zone and attack with a second or third look. So we have to have awareness to that part of it. I think, on their back end, they have a couple guys who are very skilled players, with Yandle and Larsson, so we have to be aware of them. On the other side of it, we have to get ourselves into the offensive zone and continue to build on a pretty good effort against St. Louis with offensive-zone play, recovering pucks and more of a shot mentality. It’s something we talk about every day. We just have to get better at putting more pucks to the net.’’