Players Are Trying to Keep It Together

Although things have not gone smoothly for the Kings since Christmas, they realize that it’s important they don’t start pointing fingers with the team struggling.

“It’s an old cliche, but you do win and lose as a team,” captain Mattias Norstrom said. “Every night that you lose a game, you can find a handful of players who made mistakes. But that doesn’t really matter because no one plays mistake-free hockey.

“It’s about covering for your teammates’ mistakes and not being afraid of making mistakes. You have to be out there wanting to put it on the line. You can’t be afraid of losing because that’s when you don’t make plays. Nothing good happens when you’re playing tight. You have to find a balance.”

What has been discouraging for the Kings about their recent slide, which reached nine losses in 11 games with Saturday’s 2-1 loss to St. Louis, is that they’ve been playing hard.

“That’s what’s been so frustrating,” veteran defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich said. “Normally, when you’re losing, you can say, ‘Wow, we didn’t play hard enough,’ and that’s usually a good excuse. But we’re working hard ... it’s just that the results are not there.”

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Defenseman Mathieu Schneider did not play against the Blues because of a groin injury. Winger Craig Johnson was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game and defenseman Brad Holland, recalled from Manchester of the American Hockey League on Friday, was also a healthy scratch.