Slumping Kings Scoring for Their Opponents Now

Break up the Kings.

That phrase is usually uttered when a team is playing well. Now, it can be used in another sense after the Kings lost, 5-2, to the Winnipeg Jets at the Forum on Saturday, losing for the 10th time in their last 14 games.

Break up the Kings.

Some in Saturday’s sellout crowd of 16,005 might want that to take on a literal meaning. As in a major trade.

In any event, it’s starting to become clear that the Kings (22-18-5) might have to do something for a reversal of fortune.

Injuries are one thing. The Kings are hampered without center Corey Millen (strained groin) and Tomas Sandstrom (injured left arm). But all the other injured players have returned to the lineup and the comeback of Wayne Gretzky has done little to give his teammates a boost.

Gretzky, who was playing on a line with Tony Granato and Mike Donnelly, had one assist, setting up Donnelly late in the third period after the game’s outcome had been decided. Lonnie Loach scored the Kings’ other goal, which gave them a 1-0 lead in the first period.

The Kings have won twice in 14 games (2-10-2) and three times in 17 games (3-11-3). Since Gretzky returned to the lineup on Jan. 6 against Tampa Bay, the Kings are 2-4 and one of those victories came against Ottawa.

Goaltending is becoming a major concern. Kelly Hrudey has been slumping, but he looked decent when he has entered the game in relief of starter Robb Stauber in the third period. Stauber, who was pulled for the second consecutive game, gave up four goals on 21 shots through two periods. For Stauber, the second period was especially bad as he gave up three goals on 10 shots.

Two of the four goals were strange ones. Late in the first period, Gretzky put it in past Stauber when he was attempting to cut off a centering pass from Kris King, who was in the left corner. Stauber got caught leaning the other way and the puck went between him and the left post to make it 1-1 at 17:20 of the first.

Later, with the Kings trailing, 3-1, Stauber was victimized by another unconventional goal in the second period. The Jets’ Thomas Steen, trying to center the puck to Tie Domi, came down in the right circle and put it in off King defenseman Charlie Huddy’s leg with only three seconds remaining.

That was it for Stauber.

If the players and coaches are getting frustrated, the Kings’ management must be well past the point of disappointment.

General Manager Nick Beverley was interviewed between periods, saying: “I’d say I’ve been looking around (to make a trade). My patience is wearing a little thin, to be sure.”

Beverley said he will need to do something if the team doesn’t come out of this lengthy slump in a big hurry.

In fact, a trade is exactly what the Jets used to turn their season around. They picked up King and Domi from the Rangers in late December and are 8-1-1 since making that deal. Winnipeg has won six consecutive games and with the victory it pulled within three points of the third-place Kings in the Smythe Division.

King Notes

Rookie defenseman Alexei Zhitnik remains in a New Jersey hospital with the flu. Apparently, he still has a temperature and the hospital won’t release him. Zhitnik checked into the hospital just after midnight on Thursday. . . . To make room for the return of left wing Lonnie Loach, the Kings assigned center Marc Fortier to their minor league team in Phoenix. Loach had missed 11 games after suffering a broken left thumb in practice on Dec. 13. Fortier, who was picked up from Ottawa in the Bob Kudelski deal in December, was scoreless in six games with the Kings. The other player the Kings picked up in the Kudelski trade, forward Jim Thomson, is making an impression in another way. He sat out on Saturday, serving the second game of his two-game suspension for receiving his fourth game misconduct of the season, last week against Ottawa. In seven games with the Kings, Thomson has 60 penalty minutes. Kudelski, meanwhile, has six goals in 12 games with the Senators. . . . Tickets are still available for today’s SCORE/NHL SuperSkills Challenge at 1 p.m. at the Forum. Tickets are $7.50 for adults and $5 for those 15-and-under. Proceeds benefit the City of Hope and Kings players’ charities. . . . The Kings’ game on Saturday against the New York Rangers at the Forum will be on ESPN. The starting time is 5 p.m. instead of 7:30.