Kings clueless in Dallas

DALLAS -- Kings trips here have taken on a Groundhog Day quality.

Show, play and lose.

So even though the Dallas Stars didn’t record their first shot until 10:16 into the game, that was merely a teaser, a brief delay until the inevitable unfolded.

Or, on this night, until the likes of center Mike Ribeiro, Brenden Morrow and Antti Miettinen got warmed up, having a hand in all of the Stars’ goals as Dallas defeated the embattled Kings, 4-1, at American Airlines Center on Thursday night before 17,913. The Stars have won seven straight home games against the Kings.

Here’s all you need to know: Two road games in two nights and the starting Kings goalie didn’t even make it to the third period. Here, rookie Jonathan Quick was mercifully pulled and replaced by J.S. Aubin at 14:56 of the second after allowing four goals on 18 shots.

In Chicago, Quick came on in relief in the first period for Aubin, who let in three goals on nine shots in what turned out to be a 6-3 loss to the Blackhawks.

The rash of Kings turnovers and an inexperienced hand in net was a daunting combination. Quick was taken out after Ribeiro’s second goal, which came on the power play. Ribeiro had four points and his linemates, Morrow and Miettinen, added two and three points, respectively. The Kings’ goal came in the third period from defenseman Tom Preissing (fourth of the season) on the power play.

“It was a little bit above our young goalie,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said. “Once he started thinking too much -- we knew we had to get him out of there. It’s unfortunate.

“He’s a great kid and he wants to do the right thing. There’s no shame in that. He’s a first-year guy. He shouldn’t be here right now. We’re in a tough situation because we’re injured throughout our organization.”

Ah, the injuries. When the No. 1 goalie, Jason LaBarbera, comes to the rescue is anyone’s guess, depending on how he manages the pain of his rib injury, though he is said to be getting closer and has been with the team on this two-game trip. Forward Alexander Frolov, sidelined 11 games by a groin injury, said he would play against the Stars, but Crawford wanted him to get in another full practice.

Beyond that, there are other questions: For instance, when does Kings President and GM Dean Lombardi abandon his legendary caution and bring in from Manchester the likes of defenseman Peter Harrold and forward Teddy Purcell, the leading scorer in the American Hockey League?

Lombardi said Harrold is close but he is resolute on sticking with Purcell’s developmental plan in Manchester.

Frustration, still, is mounting as the Kings keep making the same mistakes and tighten the grasp on last place in the Western Conference. They are tied with Phoenix with 26 points.

This has been the most difficult stretch for many of the younger Kings.

“For me, personally, yeah,” Dustin Brown said. “There’s more responsibility put on my shoulders now. You look at our games and little things happen . . . me included, I fan on a puck and they capitalize on it. We’ve got to learn to minimize our mistakes.”

Defenseman Jaroslav Modry didn’t agree with the frustration theory, saying: “It’s not necessarily frustration. We’ve just got to get out of it and work through it and put together a whole 60 minutes -- and we get some breakdowns throughout the game and it just cost us the game.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com