Kings keep sinking in the West

The hockey season has reached only the beginning of February and already the Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks find themselves playing out the string as the trade winds blow around them.

An announced crowd of 16,958 passed up other forms of entertainment to watch the two worst teams in the Western Conference stumble about for 60-plus minutes Thursday night at Staples Center.

With the shootout in place, one team was guaranteed to leave the rink victorious, if only for one night. Regulation wasn’t enough to contain this affair, but Lasse Kukkonen gave Chicago a 3-2 win with a goal 57 seconds into overtime.

This was the second game since Kings management sent up the white flag, trading veteran center Craig Conroy to the Calgary Flames on Monday.

That brought a little uneasiness in the dressing room, with players left to wonder who might be the next to go before the Feb. 27 deadline.

“It is a tough time of year with all that’s going on,” defenseman Aaron Miller said. “The only way to handle it is to close the door [to the dressing room], be together and try to win some games. There’s nothing you can do about the other stuff.”

Still, it will be hard to avoid the numerous rumors that will have four weeks to ferment. One of the latest has Rob Blake heading to Edmonton, which is in need of a puck-moving defenseman.

“This is professional sports and everyone in the room realizes that,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said. “Besides, a lot of those rumors are so guys can promote their TV shows.”

The loss Thursday was just the latest dose of misery for the Kings (17-30-7), who have won once in the last 11 games and sit last in the conference with 41 points. Chicago (19-25-7), which has made half of its roster available, had a 10-game losing streak until defeating Calgary on Tuesday.

Sean Burke was sharp in his fifth start with the Kings as he made 28 saves, including a critical one on Martin Havlat with less than seven minutes left in regulation.

Burke, though, was powerless to stop Kukkonen as the defenseman set up in the slot and banged in a pass from center Denis Arkhipov.

“I kind of saw him get the puck, it was on his stick and he beat me,” Burke said. “By the time I got set, it was already in.”

The goal spoiled a comeback of sorts for the Kings.

Jamie Lundmark, whom the Kings acquired for Conroy, tied the score in the third period, albeit with some help from Blackhawks defenseman Jassen Cullimore.

Lundmark chipped the puck away from Cullimore deep in the Chicago zone on the forecheck and the big defenseman flung the puck toward his net, where it surprised goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

The 26-year-old Lundmark, a former first-round pick of the New York Rangers, had no goals and four points in 39 games with the Flames.

“It was definitely big for me,” Lundmark said. “It’s been a rough season so far in the goal department.

“Obviously it was a lucky goal but I’ll take it.”

eric.stephens@latimes.com