PLAYOFF PATH LAID OUT.

Byline: MATT McHALE NHL 

The Kings needed a big game against Edmonton on Monday night.

The Oilers are the weakest team they will play the rest of the season and they were 7-0-2-3 in their previous 12 games.

If that isn't frightening enough, the Kings play them again Friday night in Edmonton, Alberta, the first game of a back-to-back set that includes another hot team, Calgary.

``A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Wow your schedule is really tough at the end,' '' Murray said. ``The way we look at it is, every game has been tough all season.''

KINGS

Wednesday at Vancouver

Friday at Edmonton

Saturday at Calgary

Monday at Colorado

March 31 at San Jose 

April 2 at Calgary

April 4 at San Jose

--Scouting report: The Kings entered Monday losing three in a row to teams in the playoffs and four of their past five overall. Goaltending is a grave concern after Roman Cechmanek was pulled from Thursday's loss to San Jose.

The addition of Anson Carter and the return of Martin Straka have not produced results. Perhaps Carter can find a little fire against the Oilers, the team for whom he played some of his best hockey.

A key line for the Kings is the Carter-Jozef Stumpel-Alexander Frolov line. They collectively have not been scoring, although Frolov did have a power-play goal Saturday against Detroit.

But the special teams have struggled all season, which puts more pressure on backup goalie Cristobal Huet, who should see plenty of playing time down the stretch.

Here is a closer look at the Western Conference playoff race with 13 days remaining:

NASHVILLE

Tonight Mighty Ducks 

Thursday at New York Rangers 

Saturday Columbus

March 30 Chicago

April 1 at Chicago

April 3 St. Louis

April 4 at Colorado

--Scouting report: The Predators appeared to be sliding out of the playoffs when they failed to win during a stretch of five games in which they led or were tied heading into the third period. But that turned around Tuesday when they scored late to tie the slumping but still powerful Vancouver Canucks. They lost the next night at Edmonton, but came back to defeat Calgary 3-1 Sunday.

That game was overshadowed by an ugly brawl at the end. But what should not be forgotten is they held the Flames to no shots in the first 14 minutes of the game and just two for the first period. They appear to have the easiest schedule of the bubble teams, playing their next five games against non-playoff clubs. But that final week could be rough unless both teams are in and resting players for the postseason.

ST. LOUIS

Thursday Mighty Ducks

Saturday Chicago

Sunday at Chicago

March 30 Edmonton

April 1 Detroit

April 3 at Nashville

April 4 at Minnesota

--Scouting report: The Blues will have had four days off by the time they play again Thursday and could drop from eighth to 10th without appearing in a game. St. Louis appears to have righted its season after three lackluster months that wound up costing coach Joel Quenneville his job.

Part of that lethargy cost them games against bad teams, some of which the Blues are playing down the stretch. Against the three teams remaining on the schedule with losing records, the Blues have won just two of 10 games.

Including Detroit, which the Blues play April 1 in St. Louis, they have a 3-7-3-0 record against the teams they'll face in five of the last seven games. But again, that was before the recovery. They looked like a quality team beating the Kings and Ducks on back-to-back nights last week.

EDMONTON

Wednesday Dallas

Friday Kings

Sunday Phoenix

March 30 at St. Louis

March 31 at Dallas

April 3 at Vancouver

--Scouting report: It never hurts to have Phoenix on the schedule. The Coyotes are winless in their past 15 games. But it will be tough to keep the momentum going, especially in the final week against teams whose own playoff futures demand all-out effort.

St. Louis is a bubble team, Dallas is trying to win the Pacific Division or at least trying to remain fourth and maintain a home-ice advantage in a first-round series against the Canucks.

Friday's game with the Kings will be Lubomir Visnovsky's first in Edmonton since the Oilers' Ethan Moreau sidelined Visnovsky for two months with nerve damage in his neck because of a hard check.

Also: Although San Jose is closing in on a division title and pushing Colorado for the second overall spot in the West, the Sharks' goaltending suddenly is a concern. Evgeni Nabokov, struggling until beating the Kings 10 days ago in San Jose, looked bad in the Sharks' 5-2 loss to the Oilers. Backup Vesa Toskala, sidelined since straining a groin in that game against the Kings, still has not returned.

Vancouver is in, but there has been a real drop in energy since Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for his attack on Colorado's Steve Moore. The Canucks are 1-2-2-2 since Bertuzzi was tossed. If they do not pull together, the Canucks could be an early playoff casualty. Captain and leading scorer Markus Naslund has just two goals in his past 19 games. And now starting goaltender Dan Cloutier appears to have aggravated a groin injury. As the Kings have seen with Cechmanek, goaltenders and bad groins are a bad combination.

Vancouver lost Sunday in overtime to Columbus, which, coming in, had the worst record in hockey.

CAPTION(S):

3 boxes

Box:

(1) FROM THE BLUE LINE

(2) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS

- Matt McHale

(3) WHAT'S ON

Kings at Vancouver