Wings, No Prayer, for Kings

You get the sense that it’s all too much for the Kings.

The Red Wings, the officials, the Scotty Bowman mystique, their growing string of playoff futility. . . . it’s like the Kings are short-handed before they even step on the ice.

Now, after Monday night’s 2-1 loss to Detroit at Staples Center, they’re down three games to none in their first-round series and find themselves in familiar territory: a hole. They spend more time underground than Bugs Bunny.

As a result they’re always struggling, scratching and fighting to get back to what little glory the franchise knew--which consisted of getting close to a Stanley Cup in 1993.

It’s not that they go down like preschoolers at nap time. They came out with energy, willing to attack and stand up to the Red Wings.

When they can’t get an overwhelming number of calls in their building, when they can’t outshoot the opponent even when they get a four-minute power play, when Stephane Fiset found the resolve to have a steady game in the crease and they still can’t win. . . . they have to wonder what more they can do.

“Game 1 and Game 3 we were in a position to go out and win the game,” King defenseman Garry Galley said. “In Game 2 we come back from three-goal deficits twice. We’re working hard, but we’re a couple of steps behind. We have to find a way to find those steps.”

The Kings aren’t in Detroit’s class. The Red Wings capitalize on King mistakes and minimize the damage on their miscues. They still have the core of their back-to-back Stanley Cup teams. Their players and coach command respect from the officials.

If the Kings try to play the same way and do the same things, they’ll be the ones who get punished. That’s the way it works when you’re the newcomer.

The Kings can’t find that sweet spot between elevating their game for the playoffs and letting the added pressure overwhelm them.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve won two Stanley Cups or three, the playoffs are different,” King defenseman Mattias Norstrom said before the game. “You have that excitement. You have butterflies in your stomach. You have to find a good in-between. You want to be relaxed, but you also want to make the plays you usually make. You want to control your emotions but bring some of that excitement onto the ice.”

Quite simply, the Kings aren’t doing it. They’re letting power play opportunities go by the wayside. They’re taking some bad penalties--any penalty against the top power-play team in the NHL is a bad penalty.

“There’s a difference between being physical and doing some things that are unnecessary,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “We did a couple of things that were unnecessary. They did as well. We shouldn’t just talk about the lack of discipline on our part tonight. Detroit took some penalties. Our problem is that our power play didn’t make them pay. That’s the difference. They took as many bad penalties as we did tonight [the Kings finished with seven power play chances to Detroit’s six], but we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

The most glaring penalty was a high-sticking call on Rob Blake (it could have just as easily been called a cross-check) while Jozef Stumpel was already sitting in the penalty box. That set up Detroit’s first score.

The Kings wasted the game’s most encouraging development, which was the strong effort by Fiset. His psyche could have been riddled after he was yanked following Detroit’s five-goal outburst early in Game 2, but he stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced Monday.

Fiset had no chance on Detroit’s first goal. With the two-man advantage, Igor Larionov found Sergei Fedorov all by himself in front of the net. Fedorov put the puck past Fiset as easily as a postal carrier dropping mail through the slot in the front door.

Detroit’s second goal, when Tomas Holmstrom tipped in a shot by Nicklas Lidstrom from just inside the blue line, also came on the power play. So what is it with the Kings in the playoffs?

“We tend to make it a bigger deal than it is,” Murray said earlier in the day “We’ve played with a lot of energy and passion [in Detroit]. We just haven’t played as smart as we could.

“They’re worried so much about the Kings’ lack of performance in the playoffs. You just have to play.”

Monday night’s loss made it 11 consecutive postseason defeats for the Kings. The franchise is in desperate need of some momentum. Even one victory would make a difference.

They need to reward their fan base. It’s hard to get motivated when the Kings keep bringing 2-0 deficits home with them.

The majority of the fans dutifully followed the Kings’ request to wear black to the game. But black clothes and black rally towels just blend into the background, not making much of a difference.

Kind of like the Kings.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com