Murray Hopes No. 2 Will Be Trying Harder

Coach Andy Murray continues to refer to Roman Cechmanek as the Kings’ No. 1 goaltender and Cristobal Huet as the team’s No. 2.

“I’m not much for quarterback controversies,” Murray said after Friday’s workout at the team’s El Segundo training facility.

But after Cechmanek seemed incapable of stopping a beach ball at times during the Kings’ 5-3 loss Thursday to the San Jose Sharks, Murray named Huet the starter for tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Cechmanek gave up four goals on 15 shots before Murray pulled him in favor of Huet to start the third period, cutting short Cechmanek’s first start in a month. Huet, who started 12 games while Cechmanek sat out because of a groin injury, stopped all seven shots he faced against the Sharks, who added an empty-net goal.

Cechmanek is 18-17-6 with five shutouts, has a 2.49 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. Huet is 10-11-10 with three shutouts, a 2.43 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

“We brought Roman Cechmanek here as our No. 1 guy,” Murray said. “We’ve always said he’s our No. 1 guy. What happened was that while he was injured, our No. 2 guy was very, very good. We still need our No. 2 guy to be good while we get our No. 1 guy going.

“We have some important games coming up and I wouldn’t want to say Cris is our No. 1 guy, but he is going to play [tonight].”

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Murray said there was “a good chance” Martin Straka would play tonight against the Red Wings after sitting out Thursday against San Jose and Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.

“There are not enough games left to send messages,” Murray said of scratching Straka the last two games. “The performance level of others was better.”

However, Murray wasn’t immediately certain whether he would play Anson Carter, acquired earlier this month in a trade with the Washington Capitals.

“We have no time to wait for a guy to get going, and it’s been six games now,” he said of Carter, who has one assist since the trade. “We believe he’ll be better than he’s been.”

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TONIGHT

vs. Detroit, 7:30, Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KSPN (710).

Records -- Kings 28-22-16-7, Red Wings 42-18-11-2.

Record vs. Red Wings -- 0-2-0-1.

Update -- Red Wing Coach Dave Lewis told Detroit reporters Manny Legace would start in goal tonight. Curtis Joseph played in the Red Wings’ 1-1 tie Thursday against the Phoenix Coyotes. Defenseman Derian Hatcher has been sidelined because of a bruised left shoulder but might play tonight. Detroit has won three one-goal games against the Kings this season, one in overtime.