Robinson Rips Into the Kings : Hockey: Coach lambastes his team’s weak effort, but not in time to prevent 2-1 loss to Bruins.

Maybe it was watching the Kings get outshot, 14-2, in the first 10 minutes here Friday afternoon.

Or it could have been defenseman Denis Tsygurov’s lack of effort on the Boston Bruins’ second goal at 10:16 of the first period in a 2-1 King loss.

Whatever it was, King Coach Larry Robinson finally was pushed too far and turned up the volume in the dressing room after that first period in what he called, “a major discussion, a one-way discussion.”

His outburst and the benching of Tsygurov for the final two periods halted the confusion on the ice. But the damage had been done and Boston’s first-period lead on goals by Cam Neely and Sandy Moger stood up for a victory before a sellout crowd of 17,565 at FleetCenter.

The Kings’ power play went 0 for 6 and is mired in a one-for-13 slump on this trip and, for the first time this season, the Kings have lost three in succession.

Defenseman Rob Cowie scored the team’s only goal, at 10:13 of the third period. Wayne Gretzky went pointless for the second time in three games, and Vitali Yachmenev, the NHL’s rookie scoring leader, has slowed considerably, having scored no points in the last four games.

At least one player thought Robinson could have unloaded earlier.

“It was probably four games too late,” right wing Rick Tocchet said. “We were awful. There’s no excuse for the way we played in the first period. But I don’t think Boston was much better.

“Larry’s a great teacher . . . but if some guys aren’t playing, including myself, then shorten the bench and go with six guys, if that’s what it is going to take to get out of this hole. We need something. We started coming on at the end, but it was too late.”

Obviously, yelling can do only so much before the players stop listening. But Robinson might have been too patient.

“He’s not the type of guy who likes to yell a lot,” Tocchet said. “He doesn’t do it that much, so when he does, it means something. He did it once before, but that was probably the loudest I’ve heard him. He’s a big man, and so he’s pretty intimidating.”

Meanwhile, neither patience nor intimidation seems to be working with Tsygurov. Former King coach Barry Melrose considered Tsygurov soft last season and Robinson is coming to the same conclusion.

He benched Tsygurov against the Islanders on Wednesday, spoke with him and then sat struggling rookie defenseman Aki Berg to get Tsygurov back into the lineup.

“We thought maybe Denny would be able to come in and play well,” Robinson said. “I told him the areas I was concerned with. He didn’t respond tonight. I was very disappointed in his play.

“He’s a big guy and he came out flat, very soft, no emotion. I guess you can move the dots around, but you can’t change them.”

Robinson is considering sending Tsygurov to the Kings’ minor league team in Phoenix, saying, “The thought has crossed my mind, but we’ll think about that in the next couple of days. I’m running out of [patience].”

Tsygurov figured himself for a scapegoat.

“Coach think I bad player, maybe,” he said. “It’s 2-0 and it is players’ fault and jump on me. The fall guy. They are looking for names.”

Some of Tsygurov’s King teammates, however, say Robinson has been more than patient with Tsygurov. And at one point, the 24-year-old Russian looked like a different defenseman.

“He played great,” Robinson said. “I don’t know where he’s been or what he’s done over the last month or so. But his play has gone down considerably, but not according to him.”

King Notes

As expected, left wing Eric Lacroix has been suspended, pending a hearing on Monday in New York. He had a meeting in Boston with NHL senior vice president Brian Burke and will probably sit out at least three games, counting Friday’s. The suspension is the result of a checking-from-behind incident against Islander defenseman Dennis Vaske on Wednesday.