Murray Does Math, Gives Team Number

Having given them a writing assignment last week, in which he asked the players to put pen to paper and describe what made them unique, Coach Andy Murray on Saturday presented the Kings with a math problem: In order to make the playoffs, he told them, they’ll have to win 40 of their last 63 games.

That seems like a tall order for a team that has won only five of its first 19, but as Murray pointed out, the Kings won a higher percentage of games during their late-season run last spring, riding a 13-2-5-2 streak into the playoffs.

Asked if it might be more difficult to maintain a high level of play over a longer period, Murray said it shouldn’t be.

“I would think, if anything, the more games you have left and a lower winning percentage [needed], you should look favorably at that,” he said before Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. “That’s why we mentioned it [to the players] this morning. It’s an ominous task, winning that many games, but that’s how many points you have to have [to reach the playoffs].”

The Kings made the playoffs as the seventh-seeded team in the Western Conference with 92 points last season, finishing two points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks and the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Carolina Hurricanes, with 88 points, finished with the worst regular-season record of any of the 16 teams that made the playoffs.

“I think for anybody to think we need less than 93 would be wrong because that’s pretty well what it took last year,” Murray said, explaining his calculations.

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Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, scratched four times this season, is finally rounding into form, Murray said. “We think he’s coming on,” the coach said of the Slovak, an NHL all-rookie selection last season after scoring 39 points. “We think he’s going to have more impact. Obviously, the team has to get going a little better, but we think he’s played his best hockey of the season in the last three or four games.” ... Rookie defenseman Andreas Lilja, who suffered a knee injury Oct. 13 while on a conditioning assignment with the Kings’ American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H., could be activated in time for Tuesday night’s game against the Calgary Flames, Murray said.

TODAY

at Minnesota

Fox Sports Net, 3 PST

Site--Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul.

Radio--KSPN (1110).

Records--Kings 5-10-1-2, Wild 7-8-3-1.

Record vs. Wild--0-1.

Update--Backup goaltender Jamie Storr will make his second start for the Kings. The Wild, last in the Northwest Division, was outshot and mostly outplayed but still defeated the Kings, 4-3, on Oct. 7 at Staples Center, setting the tone for the Kings’ struggles.