Kings Hit Another Low Point in Season

Thankfully, perhaps, given the Kings’ fragile psyche, their season rolled on without interruption Thursday night, giving them little time to stew over a gut-wrenching loss to the Mighty Ducks less than 24 hours earlier.

But the Minnesota Wild added to the Kings’ misery by winning, 2-1, in front of 16,480 at Staples Center. At least this time the Kings didn’t have their hearts ripped out, as they did the night before in blowing a two-goal third-period lead after overcoming a three-goal second-period deficit.

But, as King Coach Andy Murray said before the game, a loss is a loss is a loss, and for the Kings they’re steadily piling up.

Defeated in their last four games, they’ve lost seven of eight.

“It seems like we’re doing just enough to lose by a little,” defenseman Aaron Miller said. “We’re working hard, but not hard enough, not really as hard as we need to to win games. Once you keep losing a bunch in a row, it’s just a cancer.

“All it takes is one win to get us going, but it’s easier said than done. We can’t put 60 minutes together right now. Felix [Potvin, their goaltender] played great tonight, but we didn’t give him the offensive backing that he needed.”

Potvin, who gave up three first-period goals in Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to the Ducks, turned aside 19 shots, but his Wild counterpart, Dwayne Roloson, stopped 31.

Only a goal by Ziggy Palffy with 24 seconds to play kept the Kings from their fourth blanking in 16 games, a month-long stretch of futility in which they’re 3-12-0-1 and have scored one goal or less nine times.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Marian Gaborik scored for the Wild.

The Kings, with Wednesday’s bitter loss still fresh in their minds, started the game knowing that after winning only three of their last 15 games they’d have to win four of five just to climb back to .500 before next week’s All-Star break.

Then, even if they were able to do that, they’d still need the equivalent of 20 victories and one tie in their last 30 games after the three-day break to nail down the 93 points they believe will be required to make the playoffs.

“We’ve been able to scramble and put together strong finishes the last couple of years,” All-Star defenseman Mathieu Schneider said before sitting out because of a groin injury. “Obviously, we need better team focus than we’ve had over the last 15 games or so.

“Guys are working extremely hard, but we continue to make mistakes and they continue to cost us. When things are going the way they are everyone needs to play a little harder, a little better, a little smarter. It’s something that has to happen overnight. We can’t wait any longer.”

They’ll have to, thanks to the Wild. After the Kings failed to score in their first three power plays, the Wild finally got the man advantage at 9:39 of the second period when Steve Heinze of the Kings was called for high-sticking.

Bouchard cashed in 55 seconds later. Stationed at the goal line below the right faceoff circle, he took a pass from Gaborik and banged it into the net off Potvin’s shoulder.

Gaborik scored off a pass from Bouchard with 6:35 to play.