Kings Can’t Find Remedy

The Kings woke up Thursday morning and found only one other team in the NHL with fewer points than them. Not a good place to be if their goal is to be playing hockey in May.

But instead of getting their act together following a dismal six-game trip in which they lost the last five games, the Kings continued their losing ways Thursday night with a disappointing 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks to extend their winless streak to five games.

In front of 15,857 at Staples Center, the Kings certainly did not open their five-game homestand they way they wanted. After receiving a second-period goal from Adam Deadmarsh to give them a 1-0 lead, the Kings gave up two power-play goals to Steve Thomas and an even-strength goal to Steve Sullivan in the third period to lose for the second time in three days to the Blackhawks.

For King Coach Andy Murray, it was not the type of response he was looking for from his struggling team, which played without Ziggy Palffy, Aaron Miller and Nelson Emerson, who are on the injured list.

“Our credibility has been challenged,” Murray said he told his team in Wednesday’s practice.

Instead of getting back on the winning track, the Kings simply became another team to lose to the streaking Blackhawks, who handed them a 5-1 loss on Tuesday and own a nine-game undefeated streak (6-0-3), their longest since 1995-96.

The Kings started off playing the style of game Murray wanted. They played hard and they didn’t make too many mistakes.

Goaltender Felix Potvin got things going early when he came up with a great save on Blackhawk forward Kyle Calder. Then after the Kings’ Mathieu Schneider was called for roughing 4:33 into the first period, the team’s penalty-killers took over.

The Kings were able to shut down Chicago’s power play and carried that momentum for the remainder of the period. Several times the Kings had solid chances to score against Blackhawk goaltender Jocelyn Thibault with Bryan Smolinski, Randy Robitaille and Steve Heinze getting the best looks.

But unfortunately for the Kings, they came up empty and the first period ended in a scoreless tie. That worked well for the Blackhawks, who approached their consecutive games against the Kings and the Mighty Ducks, who they play tonight at the Arrowhead Pond, as their most important games of the season.

“These are big games for us,” Thibault said before Thursday night’s game. “Los Angeles and Anaheim are chasing us--we have to put them as far away from us as we can.”

After outshooting Chicago, 9-6, in the first period, the Kings continued to dominate play early in the second. And the player who really got things going was rookie forward Jaroslav Bednar, who was a healthy scratch when the Kings played at Chicago on Tuesday.

Bednar helped set up the first goal of the game when he made a sweet move with the puck to get around Chicago defenseman Jon Klemm and then followed his blocked shot behind the net. With the Blackhawks scrambling to recover, Bednar shot the puck past Thibault to a wide-open Deadmarsh, who scored easily from the top of the crease to give the Kings a 1-0 lead at 5:31.

The Kings definitely had chances to increase their lead before the second period ended but they failed to score on two power plays.

In the third period, the Kings quickly gave the Blackhawks a golden opportunity to tie the score when winger Craig Johnson went into the penalty box for high-sticking. Chicago, which entered the game with the 21st-ranked power play in the league, took advantage of Johnson’s miscue when Thomas scored off a redirection 4:47 into the period for his fifth goal of the season.

Thomas, however, wasn’t finished. After Ian Lapperriere was called for cross-checking, Thomas scored his second power-play goal .