Justin Williams is expected to return to the ice at Phoenix tonight.

Williams was off the ice for eight days with an undisclosed lower-body injury, but he missed five games during that span. Williams was scheduled to return to the lineup when the Kings faced the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday night.

Williams stopped short of saying he was 100 percent but said he was "good enough to play the game of hockey.'' Williams, with nine points in nine games this season, returned to his role as the top-line right wing alongside center Anze Kopitar and left wing Ryan Smyth.

"It was tough,'' Williams said. "That was frustrating, to miss a lot of games. It (stinks) when you’re out and the team’s not doing well, because maybe you push yourself before you’re ready. I was able to get myself ready.''

Wayne Simmonds drew strong reviews as the fill-in for Williams on the first line, but coach Terry Murray didn't hesitate to put Williams back in his normal spot.

Williams joked that he needed to help Anze Kopitar, who was briefly the league's top scorer while Williams was out, get going again offensively.

"Well, Kopi is in a little slump no,'' Williams said. "It’s been two games (since he scored). We can’t have that, so I told him we’d get him going.''

In Williams' nine games, the line generated 14 goals and 20 assists.

"I think that when your skill players are your hardest workers, you're going to get results,'' Williams said. "That's what we need to keep going after, is working hard. The skill is there for Kopi, Smitty and I, but if we don't work and move our feet and create for each other, we're not going to do anything out there.''

QUICK, FOR NOW
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick started his ninth consecutive game Monday, and his 14th of the Kings' 15 games this season, but Murray said he hasn't forgotten about backup goalie Erik Ersberg.

Quick is likely to play in the next two games as well, against Pittsburgh on Thursday and Nashville on Saturday, but Murray said Ersberg is likely to get a game during the Kings' upcoming five-game road trip.

Ersberg has appeared in only one game this season, a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Oct. 14 in which Ersberg allowed four goals on 21 shots. Shortly after, Murray said that, in hindsight, he wished he had started Quick in that game.

Since then, though, Murray said Ersberg's practice habits have improved.

"I want to get him into a game,'' Murray said. "I’m not going to be standing here saying he’s not going to play. He is going to play. I want to get him in and I want him to be on top of his game when he’s ready to go.''

CLUNE RETURNS
Rich Clune, out with an injured groin for most of this season, returned and played two games this weekend for Manchester of the American Hockey League. Clune scored a goal in the Monarchs' 3-2 overtime loss to Hartford on Sunday.

Kings defenseman Alec Martinez remains sidelined with a high ankle sprain, and no timetable for Martinez's return has been set.

POWERFUL PLAY
The Kings' first two games against Phoenix this season were largely inconsistent -- a poor 6-3 season-opening loss, followed by a strong 5-3 road victory -- but one thing was consistent for the Kings: strong special teams.

The Kings scored three power-play goals in each of those first two games and allowed the Coyotes only one power-play goal in each game.

"They are so aggressive,'' Murray said of the Coyotes. "They come after you hard, so you have to be alert and you have to keep your feet moving, and move the puck quickly or nothing will happen. I think the power-play groups have been aware of that.''