Ducks defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky’s long wait is about to end

Lubomir Visnovsky has waited a long time for this.

When the Ducks begin the Stanley Cup playoffs Wednesday night against Nashville, it will end an eight-season drought for the Ducks defenseman.

“This is something new for me,” said Visnovsky, who last appeared in the playoffs with the Kings in 2002. “This time of year, I’m usually on vacation and go home to Slovakia. I would see some highlights and I would get [mad] seeing others in the playoffs.”

Now, he said, “I have a great feeling.”

The stars seem aligned as well.

Kings, Ducks playoff schedule

Visnovsky, who led NHL defensemen with 68 points, has scored 12 of his 18 goals this season in games played on Wednesdays and Fridays. If the Ducks’ series goes seven games, four of those fall on a Wednesday or Friday.

“You know what I like about America . . . stats,” Visnovsky said. “You can make stats say good things. That’s good at contract time.”

More stats minutia

Sergei Kostitsyn led Nashville with 23 goals, which would have been fourth on the Ducks. But Kostitsyn was tops in the NHL in shooting percentage, scoring on 24.7% of his shots.

Goalie chatter

While Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle remained tight-lipped about who will start in goal — though Dan Ellis appears to be his only healthy choice — he had no problem waxing poetic about Nashville’s Pekka Rinne.

Rinne, ranked second in the NHL in save percentage (.930) and third in goals-against average (2.12), is a fixture.

Kings and Ducks coaches are two quick reads

“He’s a big kid with really, really quick feet,” Carlyle said. “Maybe because he’s so large, he doesn’t have to be very athletic to cover a lot of the net. He covers the whole bottom of the net being 6 feet 5. . . . He can go post-to-post with his frame. So you don’t really see a lot with him.”

Tickets sales

Tickets remain for Game 1 and can be purchased at AnaheimDucks.com, from Ticketmaster at (714) 703-2545 or at the Honda Center box office.

chris.foster@latimes.com