All Kings Can Say Is, Trip Is Over : Hockey: They finish it off by losing to Lightning, 2-0. They had six goals in five games, all losses.

The worst King trip in almost eight years ended, mercifully, and the true barometer of mediocrity emerged when Monday’s game at the ThunderDome against the Tampa Bay Lightning was actually viewed as improvement.

Tampa Bay 2, Kings 0.

Yes, the Lightning have won a franchise-record five consecutive games. And goaltender Daren Puppa, the NHL’s player of the week, made 45 saves in recording his first shutout of the season and 13th in his career.

Still, some perspective, please. Tampa Bay remains a sub-.500 team and did lose, 10-0, to Pittsburgh earlier this month. But the Kings deserve some credit for actually showing a pulse for the first time since opening the trip with a 5-2 loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

“Eight days ago, we were the toast of the town and eight days later we’re Thanksgiving turkeys,” Wayne Gretzky said.

This is after the Kings (10-10-5) lost all five games on this trip, the first time it has happened since they did it in a stretch in 1987 from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12. On that trip, Mike Murphy was replaced by Robbie Ftorek as coach and Rogie Vachon even surfaced behind the bench for a game, the way he does every so often.

In five games, the Kings scored six goals. Two by Tony Granato, one by Rob Cowie and one each by Steven Finn, Yanic Perreault and Rick Tocchet. Gretzky went pointless in four of the five games with just two assists in five games, both against the Islanders. And the power play has unraveled, mired in a one-for-22 slump.

NHL rookie scoring leader Vitali Yachmenev hasn’t scored a goal in six games nor has left wing Dimitri Khristich. Jari Kurri is in a seven-game goal-scoring drought.

Those three were more notable for the chances they missed on Monday. Yachmenev missed an open net, Kurri hit a post, and Khristich couldn’t convert on a wrap-around. Gretzky himself was stopped by Puppa on a breakaway with 45 seconds remaining.

Though goaltender Kelly Hrudey played a strong game, making 38 saves, it has become clear the Kings are going to have to diversify and not just rely on outstanding goaltending. Acquiring a better-than-adequate defenseman might help, even though the Kings truly squandered a chance to deal from strength earlier this season.

“Maybe we were walking a tightrope there for a little while too,” King forward Pat Conacher said of the early success. “Because the goaltending was playing so well and we were getting a few breaks. In a way, we were probably walking a dangerous line. And the law of averages finally caught up with us.”

King Coach Larry Robinson has tried several alternatives. He has been patient, at times. In Boston, he yelled at the team between periods. Lately, he has benched struggling defenseman Denis Tsygurov for consecutive games, weighing a possible demotion to Phoenix.

Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first 12:59 on first-period goals by right wing Alexander Selivanov and left wing Shawn Burr, the Kings didn’t totally abandon Robinson’s game plan the way they did on Sunday against Florida. But the total team effort, once again, was missing.

“It seems there is always one guy on each line that is not at the top of his game,” Robinson said. “We’ve got to have all of our guys working every night to be successful. We showed a lot of determination and a lot of hard work out there.”

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King Notes

Left wing Eric Lacroix, who appeared at a hearing on Monday morning before NHL senior vice president Brian Burke, was suspended for five games and fined $1,000 by the league. The suspension stems from an incident of checking from behind against Islander defenseman Dennis Vaske on Wednesday. Vaske suffered a concussion and facial lacerations and has not returned to play. “The check by Mr. Lacroix was an extremely dangerous act,” Burke said in a statement. “While he said he believe that Mr. Vaske saw him coming, there is no doubt Mr. Lacroix could have and should have avoided the contact. That Mr. Vaske turned his back on an onrushing player may have contributed to the incident, but it does not absolve Mr. Lacroix for the vicious hit from behind that he administered.” Lacroix has already sat out three games and can return to the lineup on Dec. 6 against Winnipeg.