Kings falter in the third period

The words Rob Blake uttered, of course, can’t be repeated.

At least not here.

They were apparently expressive enough to get him tossed by referee Dan O’Halloran after the first period of the Kings-Coyotes game, which Phoenix went on to win, 4-2, Saturday night at Staples Center in front of 16,053.

The Kings, coming off an impressive 8-2 win against Buffalo on Thursday, haven’t won consecutive games since late October, and they are 0-4 against Phoenix, scoring three times in four games.

This time, the game winner came in tough fashion when the Kings had been dominating the third period, holding Phoenix without a shot for more than half of it. All it took was one shot.

Phoenix scored on its first (of only three shots) in the third period when defenseman Keith Ballard took advantage of a breakdown in the Kings zone, scoring from the slot between the circles at 12 minutes 16 seconds.

“A few too many breakdowns, and especially the third one, I was responsible for the third goal,” forward Dustin Brown said. “You can’t let that happen with seven minutes left to go and a 2-2 game, losing coverage that easily.”

Earlier, it had looked as though the Kings just might be on the verge of solving the mystery known as Ilya Bryzgalov, the Ducks-turned-Coyotes goalie. Michal Handzus made an opportunistic surge toward the net, picking up the loose puck and back-handing it under the goalie to make it 2-2 at 10:30 of the third period.

It was his third goal of the season. The other Kings goal came from Anze Kopitar, on the power play at 6:24 of the first period. It was his 13th goal of the season.

But back to the captain. Blake racked up an impressive 22 penalty minutes with one verbal blast at distance -- two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 10-minute misconduct and another 10 minutes for a game misconduct. Add in an earlier two-minute penalty for roughing and it was quite a show, though he was unavailable for comment afterward.

Unfortunately, the Kings couldn’t put it behind them. At the start of the second period, Kings Coach Marc Crawford got his point across in no uncertain terms to the officials, including O’Halloran.

Crawford said that Blake, mindful of what happened to goalie Jason LaBarbera a week ago against Colorado, took issue with the Coyotes’ crashing into goalie J.S. Aubin in the crease.

“I don’t disagree with the penalty call he got there, but the referee should know what the climate of the team is,” Crawford said. “We lost our No. 1 goalie because of Ryan Smyth crashing the crease, so our guys are obviously very sensitive.”

Still, all the Kings’ words couldn’t put Blake back in the game again, and they played the final 40 minutes with five defensemen. That was the lasting impact.

And the immediate implication was costly. Phoenix needed only 1:09 on the second-period power play -- which resulted from the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty -- to take a 2-1 lead, as Radim Vrbata took a cross-ice pass from Martin Hanzal and scored from the left-wing circle, getting some help earlier when the puck glanced off the skate of the Kings new favorite referee, O’Halloran.

“He’s a big minute guy and our captain,” Brown said of Blake. “Not only did we lose him on the ice, but the presence he brings can really help the team. At the same time, we had the game in our grasp.”

Said Kopitar: “He’s a big part of our power play. We definitely missed him out there.”

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The Kings activated forward Scott Thornton off injured reserve and sent defenseman Jon Klemm to their minor league affiliate in Manchester, N.H. Thornton, who suffered a bruised sternum in the first period against Phoenix on Nov. 21, sat out seven games.

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com