Kings Aren’t Fooling Anybody : Hockey: Road uniforms don’t help in 3-1 loss to Sharks at Forum.

The simple move of wearing their black road jerseys at home against the San Jose Sharks wasn’t enough to prevent the Kings from lapsing into their season-long swoon at the Forum.

Even though a faint pulse was detected for a brief spell in the second period, it wasn’t nearly enough to slow the Sharks in their 3-1 victory over the Kings on Saturday afternoon before an announced sellout of 16,005.

The Kings (9-14-6) have won once in their last 10 games at the Forum and are 3-10-3 at home this season. And the Sharks (11-15-2) have hardly been formidable this season, losing 11 of their last 14 games before Saturday’s victory. In fact, they have been more entertaining off the ice, making a handful of trades with some spirited sniping from players on their way out.

But with Arturs Irbe in goal and rookie center Jeff Friesen getting two assists, there was no dissension Saturday. Irbe has not lost to the Kings in three consecutive starts at the Forum, giving up only two goals. He faced 33 shots, but only a handful of scoring chances.

John Druce’s goal at 18:09 of the second period, his ninth of the season, was all Irbe has allowed in 120 minutes of play against the Kings this season.

“You just have that feeling when you come in some building and I have that feeling here,” Irbe said. “I feel it’s a building where I am comfortable.”

It’s especially easy to get comfortable when faced with such an ineffective power play. The Kings failed to score on six power-play opportunities Saturday and are in a 1-36 stretch through the past 10 games and have given up three short-handed goals in their last six games.

One of those came from Shark defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, who scored his first short-handed goal and sixth of the season, at 9:38 of the second period, giving San Jose a 2-0 lead. It was the result of a two-on-one created after King forward Jari Kurri got caught up ice.

“We have no excuses,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “I don’t care if we have two old ladies from Pasadena on the point. We’ve got to win. There might have been a couple of old ladies who might have done better than us.”

Melrose was asked if the Kings had taken the struggling Sharks lightly.

“If we think we can take advantage of anyone, we’re a bunch of idiots,” he said. “Teams with five losses can take teams for granted.”

Either way, it is difficult to explain or understand the King effort or lack thereof. They have started slowly all season and are 0-10-1 when trailing after the first period.

“We’re so complacent at home,” goaltender Kelly Hrudey said. “It’s not until we get behind and then we play better.”

Not helping the situation are the continual rash of injuries. Center Robert Lang, taking a heavy hit along the boards, suffered a strained left shoulder in the first period. He did not return and will be re-evaluated today. Kurri returned after sitting out two games, and Melrose said he was not 100% and would sit out today’s game in San Jose.

Which means forwards Yanic Perreault and Kevin Brown will be recalled for that game. The two players have inexplicably been with the Kings’ minor league team in Phoenix, despite having played well in Los Angeles. Brown was sent down March 5 and Perreault joined the Roadrunners on Friday.