Column: Familiar story with an unhappy ending for Kings

It was, in many ways, a sight familiar to Kings fans. A goaltender whose resume includes a Stanley Cup championship and a Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP stood tall at Staples Center on Thursday, repelling almost every shot he faced and remaining fiercely focused during the rare occasions he was pressured.

The wrinkle is that the Cup-winning MVP in question was the Carolina Hurricanes’ Cam Ward, who enjoyed those successes in 2006. He made 21 saves in a 3-1 victory for the Hurricanes, their first win in Los Angeles in 11 years, but a span of only six games. The Kings’ 2012 Conn Smythe winner, Jonathan Quick, remains sidelined indefinitely because of a groin injury, a misfortune the Kings are still scrambling to overcome while they battle to get into a playoff position.

“We have games in hand and the only way we’re getting up into a playoff spot or up in the standings is if we win them. We didn’t come out prepared tonight,” defenseman Jake Muzzin said. “We had a few days off, so guys were well rested. Mentally just better get involved emotionally more, and realize the importance of each night. Two points are huge every night, especially home ice so unacceptable.”

Goalie Jeff Zatkoff, who endured a long stay in Coach Darryl Sutter’s doghouse after pulling himself from a game at Ottawa on Nov. 11 and then needed time to recover from a groin injury, made his first start since that game. That ended a streak of 23 consecutive appearances by Peter Budaj, who needed a night off. Zatkoff gave up three goals on the first 15 shots against him and faced 18 shots overall.

“I was excited to play. Not happy to lose, obviously,” he said. “One of those nights where there weren’t a lot of shots both ways. They kind of hold onto the puck and wait to make plays with it, try and shoot on chances. They were able to capitalize. That’s the difference.”

To a degree, it was. Derek Ryan scored two goals, the second on a shorthanded strike that Zatkoff got a piece of but not enough to stop, but Muzzin saw another cause for this flat defeat.

“A bad start, obviously, for us. There’s no excuses, really,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting prepared, getting ourselves psyched up.”

The third goal, which silenced an already somber crowd, was the result of fine individual plays and a strong finish by Brock McGinn at close range. Drew Doughty, celebrating his 27th birthday, scored the Kings’ only goal on a slap shot from the right side at 12:50 of the third period.

Ryan, who played in Austria and Sweden before making his NHL debut with Carolina last season, had scored the only goal of the first period when he took a pass from Andrej Nestrasil and dodged Muzzin and Alec Martinez before corralling a bouncing puck. He faked a forehand before shifting to his backhand and placing the puck behind Zatkoff’s right leg at 17:51. Zatkoff wasn’t to blame on the goal, because Muzzin and Martinez had gotten bunched up and left him to fend for himself.

Sutter mixed up his top three lines and his defense pairs to start the second period in an effort to create offensive sparks, but those changes had no impact. Nor did the Kings capitalize on their two power plays in the second period — and they allowed Carolina to score its second goal while shorthanded.

Anze Kopitar turned the puck over in Carolina’s end, setting up a two-on-one break with Ryan and McGinn against Doughty. Ryan made a deft, behind-the-back pass to McGinn and went to the net; McGinn passed the puck under the body of the diving Doughty and back to Ryan, who easily beat Zatkoff at the right post at 13:13.

“You just can’t give those up. It’s tough to win when you give up shorthanded goals,” Zatkoff said. “It was a good play, two-on-one, backdoor. Got there and got a piece of it but just didn’t get enough of it. I thought I had it. I think I just got enough of it. They’re a skilled team. They’re going to make those plays.”

The Kings didn’t make those plays. And that’s one reason they’re on the outside looking in, and hoping they won’t be too far outside a playoff spot when Quick comes back.