Rugged Effort Is Not Enough to Keep Kings Streak Alive

Another less-than-robust crowd was greeted by a similar effort as the Kings’ three-game winning streak ended with a 2-1 loss Thursday night to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Kings seemed to play down to their support before an announced crowd of 10,298 at the Great Western Forum, going scoreless on eight power plays.

“It’s disappointing to see some of the crowds like this at this point of the season, but it looks like through the year, we’ve drawn well on the weekends and depending on who is in town, we’ve had trouble drawing through the week,” said King General Manager Dave Taylor, whose team has had nine sellouts this season compared to only four last season.

“We have to earn back respect on the ice and with our fans as well. . . . We haven’t made the playoffs in four years. It’s been a tough sled but we have to keep at it. We’re building a good team here and if we continue to do well, we’re sure that we’ll win the fans back as well.”

Stronger crowd support could have helped the Kings as they lost for only the third time in 29 games in which they scored first (24-3-2).

Playing their fourth game in five days, the Kings skated like a tired team. Although Ian Laperriere gave them a 1-0 first period lead, the Kings tried too many passes when they should have been shooting and their passes lacked snap most of the night.

Goaltender Stephane Fiset played well in making 20 saves, but the Kings failed to muster many solid scoring chances against Toronto goalie Felix Potvin, who finished with 27 saves.

The Kings remain in fifth position in the Western Conference despite the loss. With 71 points, they hold a nine-point edge over Phoenix, which defeated Dallas on Thursday.

Toronto, which also defeated the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday, got a strong game from rookie Mike Johnson, who scored a goal and made a key defensive play that led to Fredrik Modin’s eventual game-winning goal early in the third period.

“It’s frustrating because we gave up three or four great chances to shoot the puck but we tried to make that little pass,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “We even got our penalty killers now trying fancy plays. It’s nights like this when you are not given a lot of room or a lot of chances [you need to shoot the puck].”

With Vitali Yachmenev, recalled on Monday, in the lineup for the first time this season, the Kings had some life early as they took the game to the Maple Leafs. The Kings held a 7-1 edge in shots on goal when Laperriere knocked in a rebound score after a wild scramble in front of the Toronto goal at 8:12.

Offensively, it was downhill from there against a Maple Leaf team still fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Johnson tied it, 1-1, for the Maple Leafs when he scored from the right circle at 17:30 of the first period. It was his 12th goal of the season, which leads all rookies.

After a scoreless second period, Toronto took its first lead when Johnson stripped the Kings’ Vladimir Tsyplakov from the puck in the neutral zone. Johnson passed to Mats Sundin, who then set up Modin for his goal from the slot.

“I thought that we, myself included, could have been a little more selfish with the puck,” winger Russ Courtnall said. “I think [fatigue] could have been a factor. We looked a little bit tired tonight. We looked like a team that was just trying to play good enough to win a game and sometimes that can [cost]. We have to get re-energized here for Saturday [when the Kings play host to Colorado].”