Kings have nothing extra and lose to Canucks, 2-1

With three-quarters of the NHL still training its eyes on postseason glory, the Kings have been in a race of their own.

Call it full retreat mode.

The door was open for Los Angeles to move out of the cellar in the overall NHL standings Monday night against the Vancouver Canucks, but the Kings played more like a team counting its days until vacation, or at least until the upcoming NHL draft.

Vancouver tied the score with just under three minutes remaining in regulation, and Ryan Kesler tipped in Willie Mitchell’s slap shot in the opening minute of overtime, lifting the Canucks to a 2-1 victory at Staples Center.

By losing for the seventh time in eight games, Los Angeles missed an opportunity to pass Tampa Bay and not have the lowest point total in the NHL, a distinction it has held for three months.

The Kings have eight picks in the first three rounds of the upcoming draft, including two in the first round. The team with the league’s lowest point total is guaranteed one of the first two picks.

Dan Cloutier was the main reason the Kings managed to earn a point against the Canucks and pull even with Tampa Bay with 60 points.

Cloutier, who finished with 38 saves, was less than three minutes from his first shutout since March 24, 2004, which came against the Kings when he was playing for the Canucks.

However, Kesler beat Lubomir Visnovsky to a loose puck in front of the crease and backhanded it into the net for Vancouver’s first goal.

“A couple little mistakes cost us again,” Cloutier said. “We keep repeating it, and now it’s been almost two years with the same bunch of guys.”

Cloutier was up against one of the league’s best in Roberto Luongo, who came into the game tied for third in the league with six shutouts and owning the third-best save percentage (92.1%). Luongo finished with 17 saves.

For 2 1/2 periods, the goalies were in a standoff, though Cloutier was considerably busier.

The Kings finally broke through at the 8:27 mark of the third, as Dustin Brown fired a cross-ice pass by Mitchell, whose stick had broken off at the tip. Patrick O’Sullivan was in perfect position to beat Luongo up high on his stick side.

Cloutier was in a groove from the start of the game, stopping 13 shots in the opening period while the Kings managed only five against Luongo.

Cloutier, making his first start since a 5-2 loss at Colorado on March 1, stopped Taylor Pyatt on a point-blank shot midway through the opening period, then turned away another in close from Henrik Sedin with five minutes remaining.

Cloutier had 13 more saves in the second period, helping the Kings kill two power plays in the first seven minutes, then surviving a flurry in front of the net with about six minutes remaining, which resulted in a review by the officials.

On the play, Mitchell sent a wrist shot at Cloutier, but Alex Burrows got his stick on the puck and deflected it off the post. The puck caromed underneath a sprawling Cloutier and Brad Isbister tried to shove it into the goal, but instead pushed Cloutier past the goal line. No goal was signaled, and a review upheld the decision.

“He stopped a bunch of great chances that we shouldn’t have given up in the first place,” said Kings forward Michael Cammalleri.

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dan.arritt@latimes.com