Kings will pick second in the NHL draft

The promise of what was billed as the most important day for the Kings’ franchise didn’t materialize as Tampa Bay won the NHL draft lottery Monday.

The Kings will select second, Atlanta third, St. Louis fourth and the New York Islanders fifth. The Ducks, who have Edmonton’s pick because of the Dustin Penner signing, will select 12th.

Representing the Kings was their president of business operations, Luc Robitaille, who was putting his nickname “Lucky” on the line, according to team President and General Manager Dean Lombardi.

“More pressure than playing a game,” said Robitaille before the lottery announcement.

But the Kings had only an 18.8% chance of moving to the No. 1 spot after finishing second to last in the league. Their grip on last place slipped away when they beat the Sharks on Thursday. Tampa Bay and the Kings both lost on Saturday in their season finales and finished with 71 points, but the Kings had one more win, which was the first tiebreaker.

Forward Steve Stamkos (from the Sarina Sting of the Ontario Hockey League) is viewed as the consensus No. 1 selection. Lombardi is especially high on OHL defenseman Drew Doughty (Guelph Storm), as is the rest of the hockey world. Two other highly touted defenseman Zach Bogosian (Peterborough Petes) and Alex Pietrangelo (Niagara Ice Dogs) are in the top 10 mix.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com