Avalanche piles on the Kings, 4-2

This time, insult followed injury.

It took 16 days, and only 2 minutes 37 seconds into the game, for Colorado left wing Ryan Smyth to complete the back half of his December torment of Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera.

Smyth didn’t take long to re-impose his presence, scoring on the power play, starting a first-period surge of goals. The Avalanche scored three times in the first, clung to the lead when the desperate Kings flickered to life in the third period, and hung on for a 4-2 victory Monday at Staples Center.

For the Kings, who have won only twice in their last 10 games, it was their fourth consecutive loss. This was also the first time Colorado has won consecutive games away from home since late October.

“Adversity is a big enemy of ours right now,” said Kings Coach Marc Crawford. “We look inexperienced at handling our adversity. . . . You can’t start like that and get away with that in this league. It just didn’t look like we were comfortable or felt at ease when we had the puck.

“We are struggling right now. There’s no doubt about that.”

Scoring for the Kings in the third period to make it interesting and somewhat respectable were Dustin Brown (15th of the season) and center Michal Handzus (fifth).

Brown’s goal, on the power play, came 36 seconds into the final period and Handzus, from the right circle, scored a short-handed goal, keyed by a quick transition started by Patrick O’Sullivan in the Kings’ zone. But comebacks, of the Dallas kind, aren’t meant to be routine occurrences. Hard to count on duplication of the Kings’ rally for a 6-5 overtime victory here on Nov. 10. The task was not nearly as formidable but still daunting after the Avalanche led, 2-0, just 3:39 into the game and 3-0 at the 14:12 mark.

LaBarbera was back after sitting out eight games because of a lingering rib injury, which came after Smyth hit him during a scramble in the crease in the third period on Dec. 1.

It wasn’t hard for Smyth to guess he might possibly receive more attention.

“I knew they were going to be trying to get me off my game with a little bit of hitting here and there,” he said. “It’s something they obviously were told.”

Finally, the pain ceased enough that the Kings were able to activate LaBarbera on Monday. And who should be in town but Smyth and his teammates.

“Ironic,” LaBarbera said on Sunday.

LaBarbera said after the loss that the ribs were “good,” but that rust in the first period was the problem, and he was highly self-critical in unprintable terms.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “You can’t get behind 3-0 against a team like that. You’re not going to come back on them. We did a good job trying to, but what’s the point, you know?

“In spurts, we’ve been good, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t seem we get 60 minutes and it’s costing us games. And it’s just taking us further and further down the standings.”

O’Sullivan was asked whether there was concern the season might be spinning out of control.

“I think at this point ‘desperate’ is a word everyone in this room should be thinking about,” he said. “We talked about it before tonight and went out and gave them a three-goal cushion. I don’t know what the answer is.

“But it’s getting to the point where it needs to turn around or we’re going to be in serious trouble.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com