Fast Fade Continues for Kings in 3-1 Loss

If the Kings fail to make the playoffs, more reality than theory with each passing game, they can point emphatically to the season-long albatrosses of injuries and shaky goaltending.

But they would also have to include their more recent disorder.

Goals continue to elude the Kings, as does a spot in the playoffs, after the latest power failure, a 3-1 loss Friday to the Edmonton Oilers before a jubilant crowd of 16,839 Friday at Rexall Place.

The Kings have only four goals in their last four games and, not coincidentally, have lost six consecutive games for the first time since December 1999, Andy Murray’s first season as King coach. A loss today against the Calgary Flames would give the Kings seven consecutive losses for the first time since December 1987.

With five games left, the Kings are fading fast, falling five points behind the eighth-place Nashville Predators for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Murray, clearly unhappy with productivity, emerged from a somber dressing room and promised that there would be lineup changes today.

Veteran defenseman Jaroslav Modry will not play, Murray said, after a costly turnover Friday that gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead. Other players will find themselves benched today.

“We’re taking some guys out that are underperforming,” Murray said. “I haven’t totally decided who those guys are. I want to think about it.

“How many extra guys have we got here? We have the possibility of making six changes. It’s not to try and rest anybody. It’s to win. It’s a performance-oriented business.”

The Kings, who had a season-low 15 shots in a 1-0 loss Wednesday to the Vancouver Canucks, started similarly slow against the Oilers, getting outshot near the end of the first period by an 18-3 margin.

The Kings finished with 19 shots, their sixth-lowest total of the season. Edmonton had 32 shots.

Left wing Luc Robitaille, sitting by himself in the dressing room after other players had cleared out, stopped short of calling out specific teammates, but his frustrations were clear.

“You can have guys that aren’t playing their best, but you can’t have guys that are giving up,” Robitaille said. “You can’t have any passengers. This time of year, you’ve got to have all 20 guys. That’s just a matter of fact.”

Goaltender Roman Cechmanek stopped 29 shots and played fairly well. He had little or no help on all three Edmonton goals.

There wasn’t much Cechmanek could do when Fernando Pisani scored on a one-timer during a two-minute five-on-three man-advantage at 6:57 of the first period.

Cechmanek was also left on an island when Modry’s ill-conceived no-look pass landed on the stick of Ryan Smyth deep in the King zone. Smyth beat Cechmanek to the glove side at 12:14 for a two-goal advantage.

“[Modry] felt the heat and he gave them a gift,” Murray said. “He won’t play [against Calgary].”

Edmonton defenseman Scott Ferguson evened the costly-turnover ratio by sending a poor clearing pass directly to King forward Ian Laperriere in the left circle. Laperriere’s wrist shot beat Ty Conklin to bring the Kings within 2-1 at 2:33 of the second period.

The Oilers, however, scored a back-breaker at 18:24 of the second period, Petr Nedved picking up a loose puck in the corner and skating untouched to the net for his 300th career goal.

The Kings had no answer on offense.

“Our goaltenders are doing a great job right now and we’re failing them by not putting pucks in the net,” right wing Trent Klatt said. “Far too many times we’re trying to make too many passes. You’ve got to start shooting from the goal line, from the blue line, anything, everything you can. We’ve got to get more shots.”