Kings Can’t Make It Up

King Coach Andy Murray calls the game-day skate a “necessary skate,” allowing players to decide whether they need the exercise.

Nearly all of them skated Thursday morning. Apparently, they didn’t think it was necessary to skate again until the third period Thursday night.

Sluggish at the outset, sloppy in allowing outnumbered rushes against them and again unable to get a perfect penalty-killing performance, the Kings opened a three-game homestand with an unsuccessful late charge in a 3-2 loss to the Southeast Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

Third-period goals by Jeff Cowan and Eric Belanger gave hope to the 17,010 fans at Staples Center, but the Kings couldn’t pull even despite the help of a five-on-three advantage for 37 seconds. They were 0 for 6 on the power play.

“The way we played in the third period makes me more disgusted with the first period,” Murray said. “It’s disappointing. Every point is so valuable.”

Left wing Erik Cole scored twice for the Hurricanes, his first goals since Nov. 9, and Justin Williams scored his 12th goal. The Kings lost for the fifth time in six games and sixth in their last eight.

After Carolina built a 3-0 lead, Jeff Cowan got the Kings back into the game at 2:30 of the third period. Craig Conroy set up the goal by controlling the puck behind the net, faking left and going right to slide a pass to Cowan, who flicked it in from the slot.

Eric Belanger cut Carolina’s lead to 3-2 at the six-minute mark. Sean Avery batted down a shot by Tim Gleason and the puck bounced around before Belanger got behind goaltender Martin Gerber and swatted it in for his 10th goal and third in the last five games.

“The third period was probably one of our best periods of the year,” Belanger said. “It was too little, too late, especially against a team like that, that plays a structured game.”

Cole’s first goal, a nifty power-play effort from above the right circle that sailed over Mathieu Garon’s shoulder at 10:27 of the first period, marked the 12th consecutive game in which the Kings gave up at least one power-play goal. Carolina extended its lead to 2-0 at 13:59, after Williams corralled a shot by Mike Commodore that had deflected off King forward Pavol Demitra, and scored its final goal on a splendid solo effort by Cole after a soft breakout pass from Oleg Tverdovsky. Cole raced up the right wing, cut across and behind a diving Gleason and slid the puck past Garon’s outstretched right leg.

“We were awful in the first period,” Conroy said. “We’ve got to learn to play 60 minutes. You can’t do it in 20.... I hope we do learn from this. We don’t have time. The standings are so close.”

Murray tried mixing his lines in search of a spark, but he got little from Alexander Frolov, Jeremy Roenick or Luc Robitaille, whom he’d singled out earlier as players whose production wasn’t matching their talent. Robitaille played merely 12 minutes 11 seconds, and Roenick played a season-low 11:50.

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Right wing Valeri Bure is scheduled to undergo surgery today to trim a bulging disk in his back. Bure, who signed a one-year, $1.5-million contract in August, last played on Sept. 29 in an exhibition game. Dr. Robert Watkins recommended the procedure after rehabilitation and medication failed. “He’s a guy that we thought would really benefit from the new rules and help our power play,” General Manager Dave Taylor said of Bure. “Hopefully, we get him back in eight weeks.”

Forward Jeff Giuliano was returned to Manchester of the American Hockey League.