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Coyotes add to Kings’ slump

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Times Staff Writer

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- All slumps are not created equal.

What Kings Coach Marc Crawford called a “mini-funk” on Tuesday officially turned into a full-fledged freefall a day later. The Kings lost their fourth consecutive game in regulation, and second in five days to Phoenix, as the Coyotes defeated them, 4-1, Wednesday night in front of 12,161 in Jobing.com Arena.

You might say Kings-slump.com, Part 2, is perhaps worse than their first one, suffered in October when they dropped four games in a row to the likes of St. Louis, Dallas, Boston and Detroit.

This time, there have been losses to the Ducks, Dallas and two to the Coyotes, the latter two clubs not to be confused with the powers of the Western Conference. The Kings’ only victory in the last seven games came when Dallas suffered a meltdown in the third period Nov. 10 at Staples Center.

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At least the Kings were scoring goals during the first slump. This time, they have scored once in three games and went zero for six on the power play against the Coyotes.

For Phoenix, leading the way was former Duck Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 28 saves in his Coyotes home debut.

Mike York scored twice and defenseman Ed Jovanovski had three assists. The Kings’ goal came from rookie forward Matt Moulson, who scored his third.

Whether he likes it or not, Bryzgalov will to have to play a team other than the Kings. That will be Friday against his former team, which put him on waivers and he responded with consecutive victories against the Kings after the Coyotes claimed him Saturday morning.

“It’s funny because when he was playing in Anaheim, we were glad when he was in the net,” Kings center Anze Kopitar said.

Earlier, Kopitar tried to put a finger on what ails the Kings.

“It seems like we can’t score on this guy,” he said. “It’s frustrating. It’s really hard to say what’s wrong. When they got chances, they scored on all of them. I don’t think we gave too many chances.”

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Frustration was clearly the buzz word of the night.

“It’s been like that for the last couple of weeks,” goalie Jason LaBarbera said. “I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s really, really frustrating. We’re not playing that bad. We’re just not playing great. We’re not doing enough to win games.”

Said Crawford: “Frustration is getting the better of us right now. You can see it. Our compete level is not the way it was a few games ago.”

And yes, it could have been even worse. Dustin Brown, one of the few Kings forwards showing signs of life, blocked a Jovanovski shot with the outside of his left ankle killing a penalty early in the second period and was in obvious pain and couldn’t get off the ice. York went on to score, an easy tap-in behind LaBarbera, from the right post, after Jovanovski’s shot came off the end boards.

Though it looked serious, Brown sat out only a couple of shifts.

“It made my whole foot go numb for about five, 10 minutes,” he said. “I just couldn’t feel my foot. It hurt at first, and then it went numb. It was one of those things. Now it’s painful. Then they get another one-timer when I’m on one foot.

“When you’re on the PK, that’s going to happen. One-timers are the worst. When I first felt it, I thought it was going to be broken.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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