Kings on Road to Early Playoff Exit

Let’s just hope that the Kings are pulling a Muhammad Ali “Rope-a-Dope,” because if they aren’t, Coach Andy Murray and the boys certainly will not be around long once the playoffs begin this week, based on their lame efforts in consecutive defeats at Vancouver and San Jose.

The once-confident Kings, who hit the road Thursday riding a four-game home unbeaten streak, played like a fragile team away from Staples Center in two crucial games that had major postseason implications.

The Kings fell apart in the third period of a three-goal loss to the Canucks, and two days later, failed to make enough plays down the stretch in a 3-1 defeat to the Sharks in front of a sellout crowd at Compaq Center on Saturday.

“You’d like to be playing well and on a winning note going into the playoffs,” said General Manager Dave Taylor, whose Kings conclude the regular season today against the Mighty Ducks at Staples Center. “We come out on the road, knowing that we needed a win or at least a point to get ourselves a playoff spot and we didn’t get it done.”

Fortunately for the Kings, they clinched a playoff berth Friday when Edmonton was eliminated by a loss to Calgary. But reaching the playoffs and being successful in them are different matters.

Since March 23, the Kings are 3-5-2. Definitely not the type of momentum a team wants heading into the playoffs, unless you’re the Detroit Red Wings.

“We’re just not playing as well as we want to,” said King goaltender Felix Potvin, who made 18 saves against the Sharks. “Once the playoffs start, it’s another season, but we know that you can’t just go in there and expect things to turn around.”

Although they played with a lot more spunk in the third period Saturday, the Kings did not attack with the same type of aggressiveness that made them one of the NHL’s most feared teams only a month ago.

When the Kings are on top of their game, every player on the ice seems to know where to find a teammate. When one player makes a mistake, another King is backing him up.

At home, where the Kings are 8-0-2 since March 2, that’s how they’ve been playing. But on the road, it’s been a much different story.

The one-on-one battles the Kings used to win are now defeats. Passes that used to go stick-to-stick are now turnovers and shots that used to find the back of the net are now saves.

“We’re a little sloppy on the road right now,” winger Adam Deadmarsh said. “We’re not being patient and when you do that, you’re not going to win hockey games very often.

“It’s been some scrambling hockey games for us.... We need to work a little harder. We didn’t compete as hard as we would have liked to. There is a fine line between working hard and competing. We have some work to do.”

With their hopes of gaining home-ice advantage in the first round a distant memory, the Kings are going to have to win on the road in the playoffs. And to do that, Murray knows that his team will have to play better than it did Saturday.

“Our top-line players were very good in the recent homestand and they haven’t been good enough on the road,” Murray said. “They need to skate faster, shoot quicker and check harder.”

The Kings didn’t play bad on defense in a scoreless first period against the Sharks. Potvin had to make only four saves as the Kings kept San Jose’s scoring chances to a minimum. But that all changed in the second.

Thanks to a couple of mistakes made by the Kings in their zone, the Sharks took a 2-0 lead on goals by Marco Sturm and Scott Thornton.

On San Jose’s first score, two Kings converged on San Jose’s Patrick Marleau, who made a nifty pass to a wide-open Sturm in front of the net. On the Sharks’ second goal, center Mike Ricci’s line dominated the Kings’ down low before Thornton scored from in front of the crease with 51 seconds remaining in the period.

“As a team, we’ve been giving up more chances like that,” Potvin said. “We just haven’t been matching the other team’s intensity.”

Against Vancouver and San Jose, the Kings did not do a good job slowing such power forwards as Todd Bertuzzi and Ricci. Which is a surprise, considering that the Kings have dominated bigger teams this season.

Assistant coach Mark Hardy said it’s been a major disappointment to see the Kings get beat on effort plays.

“In hockey, you have to win the one-on-one battles and if you’re not prepared to outwork the guy you are working against, then you’re going to lose,” Hardy said. “We’ve played against big guys before.... It has nothing to do with size. We just didn’t show up, and that’s not a very good sign.”