Last (Gasp!)

It would be easy to point to Oct. 18 and say that’s when it began to fall apart.

Easier still to point to the third period against Colorado, when goalie Stephane Fiset strained his right groin making a save and limped off the ice.

And when another save left backup goalie Jamie Storr with a strain in his left groin and he finished the game just short of traction.

Too easy.

Rob Blake resists the easy answer and insists that the Kings were never all that together.

“We were winning before that, but we weren’t playing all that well,” says Blake, the Kings’ Norris Trophy-winning defenseman and a major character in what has been a 26-and-counting-act play titled: “It Hasn’t Been All That Funny on the Way to the Forum (or Away from the Forum Either).”

“We were being outshot and sometimes outplayed,” Blake says.

Still, they found a way to beat Edmonton and Boston, and held a 2-1-1 record, even after the Avalanche declared open season on goalies. When you’re 2-1-1, who cares how you do it?

Anyone who knew how shaky the foundation was.

Harken back to the days of yore, actually of September and early October, when the Kings were coasting through exhibitions and planning to play hockey well into the spring, far beyond the schedule’s mandated 82 games.

“I think just making the playoffs this year, we can’t be satisfied with that,” Coach Larry Robinson said. “We’ve got to set our goals higher. That’s the standard we’ve set for ourselves and now we have to play to that standard: of being competitive and making the playoffs. It would be a huge disappointment, not only to the team but to myself and management, it would be a step backward if we didn’t make it.”

With a 6-17-3 record, the NHL’s worst; and with 15 points, fewest in the league, it would be a giant leap forward if they did. It took 78 points to make the playoffs in the Western Conference last season. The Kings project to 47.

Their 6-17-3 record is a long way from the 12-9-5 at this point last season, which ended with the Kings holding 87 points and a playoff berth. It’s not far from the worst start in King history, the 5-20-1 opening in 1971-72.

Dave Taylor, the team’s vice president and general manager, agreed with Robinson’s assessment of this season’s prospects, but as usual, given his conservative bent, hedged his bets.

Who listened?

Some players had the best seasons of their careers in helping the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since 1993, he said.

But they were young players, with a lot of best seasons ahead.

And the Kings didn’t have any major injuries last season, he said.

But who can predict injuries?

Fast-forward to Oct. 18, and two goalies were lost.

And a day later, center Jozef Stumpel told Robinson that his hip had been hurting since the last exhibition. The injury cost him 10 games.

And then Blake suffered a broken foot Oct. 30 against Tampa Bay.

Both goalies, the best center and top defenseman.

And winger Russ Courtnall with a broken ankle. Defenseman Doug Bodger has missed 11 games because of a broken hand. And center Ian Laperriere is playing on a frayed knee ligament.

And the hits just keep on coming.

There have been 114 man-games lost because of injuries, compared with 35 through 26 games last season.

“We still haven’t seen what this team can do yet,” Taylor says. “But maybe that’s the way it will be all year.

“And we haven’t gotten what we hoped to get out of some guys. Yanic Perreault and Jozef Stumpel don’t have the production we hoped they would have. We’ve had to rely a lot on Josh Green and Olli Jokinen, and that’s a lot of pressure to put on 19- and 20-year-old guys.”

Stumpel’s injuries have been a factor in his production dropping from eight goals and 21 assists through 26 games last season to a goal and five assists in playing 13 of the 26 games so far.

Perreault has dropped from last season’s 15 goals and nine assists to five goals and eight assists while playing on three different lines in a patchwork attack.

Green has a goal and three assists, Jokinen four goals and four assists.

Oh, and about this best-seasons-of-their-careers business . . .

A shutout at Long Island. Consecutive blankings at the Forum by Tampa Bay and Phoenix. Six games of four or more goals, and three of those were lost or tied.

The Kings have scored 55 goals, given up 76.

“Luc [Robitaille] and [Glen] Murray have scored--what?--two-thirds of them?” Blake said. “Those guys ought to be playing 30 minutes a game.”

Actually, Robitaille has 12 goals and Murray 10. Vladimir Tsyplakov is next with six goals and Perreault has five, but only one since the fourth game.

Through 26 games last season, they had scored 85 goals, had given up 71, and there were scorers all over the roster.

There have been 10 power-play goals in 116 chances, an abysmal 8.6% success rate for a team that imported two players, Bodger and Steve Duchesne, to bolster a power play that was middle-of-the-pack a year ago.

“The middle would look pretty good right now,” says Taylor, who sees half a dozen more power-play goals as translating to six or seven points in the standings.

Six or seven points would have them next to a playoff position. Eight, and the whole season wouldn’t look nearly as dismal.

Those extra goals were there through 26 games last season, when the figures were 16 for 107.

From Oct. 18 to today, there have been players-only meetings, coaches-players meetings, management-coaches meetings. The Kings meet more than the House Judiciary Committee, and from each meeting there is progress, usually fleeting and seldom enough to win.

There have been frequent references to last season’s team finding ways to win, to this season’s finding ways to add to a losing streak that is four games and counting. It follows a win over Chicago that ended a six-game losing streak.

There have been scoldings and embracings by Robinson, who admits he’s not having much fun in the final season of his four-year, $3.2-million contract.

“Nobody’s having fun,” he added.

After a 3-1 loss at Montreal, there was a blowup during which Robinson challenged the manhood of his charges.

“If they don’t produce, it’s going to come a point where Dave [Taylor] is going to come to me and say, ‘Either you get these guys going or we’re going to get [some other players]’ or I’m out of here. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up that easy,” Robinson said.

“So either guys are going to be willing to pay the price or they’re not going to play. And we’ll get some guys up from the minors, and we’ll put some guys on waivers and send them to the minors. And we’ll get some guys who are willing to pay the price.”

And there has been an admission that “I can’t get mad at anybody,” by Robinson after a loss three nights later at Ottawa. “I can’t yell at anybody. They played their guts out.”

It wasn’t enough. It hasn’t been enough all season, even when every ounce of energy was expended, something that hasn’t often occurred.

But always there is hope. There are 56 games to play. Players are coming off the injury list. Blake returns soon to a defense that, Taylor admits, could have used Aki Berg, who returned to play in Finland after three seasons with the Kings.

“With [Blake], they have one of the top two or three defenses in the league,” San Jose Coach Darryl Sutter says. “Without him, maybe the top 15.”

But Blake is one player, and a defenseman at that. There still is no high-scoring forward afoot, nor one apparently close. Talks with Vancouver about Pavel Bure have been just that: talks. Ditto with the New York Islanders about Ziggy Palffy. And Calgary about Theo Fleury.

Those tables in the concourse at the Forum are there to sell you season tickets for next season at the Staples Center. With 15 points and no marquee King to sell, they are merely taking up aisle space.

“It’s not a panic situation, but it is a desperate situation,” says Robinson. “We’ve got to win games. We need to play desperation hockey for 60 minutes, not for five minutes here and 10 minutes there and 20 minutes there. We’re running out of tomorrows.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Rob Blake

Injured: Oct. 30

Out: 16 games.

Stephane Fleet

Injured: Oct. 18

Missed: 17 games.

Jamie Storr

Injured: Oct, 18.

Missed: 17 games.

Jozef Stumpel

Injured: Oct. 19

Missed: 10 games

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

RANK RANKINGS

1. Phoenix: 33

2. New Jersey: 32

3. Toronto: 32

4. Dallas: 31

5. Buffalo: 30

6. Detroit: 29

7. Carolina: 29

8. Philadelphia: 28

9. Boston: 28

10. Edmonton: 27

11. Ottawa: 27

12. Pittsburgh: 27

13. N.Y. Rangers: 25

14. Colorado: 24

15. Vancouver: 23

16. St. Louis: 23

17. Mighty Ducks: 23

18. Florida: 22

19. N.Y. Islanders: 20

20. Calgary: 20

21. Nashville: 19

22. Washington: 19

23. Chicago: 19

24. Montreal: 19

25. Tampa Bay: 16

26. San Jose: 16

27. Kings: 15

*

GOALS PER GAME

1. Detroit: 3.38

2. Toronto: 3.12

3. Edmonton: 3.00

4. Pittsburgh: 2.96

5. Ottawa: 2.96

23. Mighty Ducks: 2.28

27. Kings: 2.12

*

GOALS ALLOWED PER GAME

1. Phoenix: 1.64

2. Boston: 1.83

3. Buffalo: 1.88

4. Dallas: 2.02

5. Philadelphia: 2.14

10. Mighty Ducks: 2.44

20. Kings: 2.89

*

POWER-PLAY PERCENTAGE

1. N.Y. Islanders: 23.4%

2. Pittsburgh: 21.1%

3. New York Rangers: 20.4%

4. Boston: 20.3%

5. Dallas: 18.8%

6. Detroit: 18.7%

7. Vancouver: 18.6%

8. St. Louis: 18.3%

9. Chicago: 17.9%

10. Calgary: 17.3%

11. Mighty Ducks: 17.1%

27. Kings: 8.6%

Research: HOUSTON MITCHELL/Los Angeles Times

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Off the Pace

Worst starts after 26 games in Kings’ history: *--*

Year Record Points Final Record 1971-72 5-20-1 11 20-49-9 1969-70 6-18-2 14 14-52-10 1998-99 6-17-3 15 1985-86 6-16-4 16 23-49-8 1987-88 7-15-4 18 30-42-8 1983-84 7-14-5 19 23-44-13

*--*

BY THE NUMBERS

(Through 26 Games):

*--*

1997-98 1998-99 12-9-5 Record 6-17-3 85 Goals 55 71 Goals Against 76 35 Games Lost to Injury 114

*--*