Kings Frustrated After 5-5 Tie : Hockey: Missed opportunities against badly struggling Edmonton put team in bad mood after deadlock.

When you’re in danger of being left out in the cold, just keeping your foot in the door can provide some warmth.

When you’re in danger of missing the playoffs, just getting a tie can provide some solace.

After all, it’s a point in the standings.

So why the long faces and clenched fists in the Kings’ locker room at Northlands Coliseum after Friday night’s 5-5 tie with the Edmonton Oilers?

Because there is more frustration than satisfaction from a tie that:

--came against the worst team in the division.

--came despite 53 shots by the Kings.

--came despite a pair of shorthanded goals by the Kings.

--came despite a two-goal lead by the Kings with 10:18 to play.

--came despite a great chance to win in overtime.

Add to that the fact that the Oilers forged this tie thanks to a hat trick by Brent Grieve, who had scored only one goal previously in nine games and the fact that Edmonton tied the score in the final two minutes on a power play and agony of this night for the Kings becomes more understandable.

“One point tonight is not acceptable,” said the Kings’ Rob Blake, who had an opportunity to make it two points if he could have converted an Oiler turnover near the end of overtime.

Edmonton’s Luke Richardson inadvertently slid the puck right onto Blake’s stick in the right circle.

That left the King defenseman one-on-one with Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford. But Blake couldn’t get any loft on his shot, burying it in Ranford’s pads.

“I should have had it,” Blake said. “I wanted to go up four or five inches.”

Instead the Kings went yet another night without a win. They have now played 130 minutes without a decision and seven games without a victory, their record over that span 0-5-2.

Yet for all their difficulties, the Kings, at 21-32-8, are just a point behind the Anaheim Ducks and five points behind the San Jose Sharks in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Kings took the early lead in front of the crowd of 17,225, but couldn’t shake the Oilers (16-38-10). Jim Paek, who came over from the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Marty McSorley in last week’s trade, opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, helping to make up for the absence of McSorley, who is serving a four-game suspension.

The Kings also got a pair of goals out of Luc Robitaille, to increase his team-leading total to 35, and shorthanded goals from Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri.

For Gretzky, it was goal No. 31 on the season and No. 796 lifetime, leaving him just five shy of Gordie Howe’s career record total of 801.

For Kurri, it was goal No. 27 and the pair of shorthanded scores were Nos. 16 and 17 for the Kings this season, leaving them one shy of the Detroit Red Wings’ league-leading total of 18.