After fast start, Kings’ lack of scoring punch has caught up with them

After reaching the playoffs last spring for the first time since 2002, the Kings appeared poised to be a force in the West. A division or conference title or maybe — gasp — a Stanley Cup finals appearance seemed within their reach.

Now, the question is whether they overachieved last season — and if General Manager Dean Lombardi is underachieving now.

The Kings had lost seven of nine going into their game against the West-leading Detroit Red Wings on Saturday at Staples Center and are still a work in progress. Their offense sputters. Their power play has ranked in the bottom third of the NHL. They’ve tried seven players at left wing on the top line and on Saturday put a defenseman at left wing on their fourth line when Coach Terry Murray moved Davis Drewiske (no goals, five assists in 23 games) up front.

The fourth line doesn’t get much playing time, but the point is clear: The Kings don’t have the depth to consistently beat the big boys.

Lombardi can’t be blamed for not signing Ilya Kovalchuk over the summer but should answer for his lack of an alternative. Unable to find an answer within the organization, he is shopping for a productive left wing but has come up only with Boston’s Marco Sturm, whose damaged knees killed a potential deal. Alexei Ponikarovsky (broken finger) is a week from returning, but he played a largely defensive role.

Goaltending has been the Kings’ strength, but only when the goalie is Jonathan Quick, and Murray said Saturday he took his goaltending schedule and “erased everything” through the start of January to give more playing time to Quick and less to Jonathan Bernier.

Before Saturday’s games, Quick ranked fourth in the NHL with a 1.92 goals-against average and sixth in save percentage at .928 in 17 appearances. Bernier, projected to be a rookie-of-the-year candidate, had a 3.29 goals-against average, .889 save percentage and a 2-5-0 record after losing three straight starts.

“With the schedule being what it is right now, I’m looking at Quick playing the majority of those games,” Murray said Saturday morning.

“I like the way Bernier is practicing, the way his game is coming together again in the drills. So I’m not going to leave him to sit there for the rest of the month and not give him some opportunities. We have some games coming up that I’m going to take a look at. Certainly, post-Christmas there’s four in five nights. There’s got to be something there.”

Murray exhausted Quick before the playoffs last season by playing him too much and knows he can’t repeat that mistake.

“A lot of it is going to be dictated, too, by how Bernier is going to play in the games as we get him going back into games,” Murray said. “If we’re seeing that player that I anticipated, then I can place him in games and give Quick that rest that we talked about through the summertime.”

It’s odd that a team desperate for skill up front couldn’t find a place for center Brayden Schenn, chosen fifth in the 2009 draft, but embraced rugged winger Kyle Clifford, chosen 35th that year and now on the third line.

Murray said Clifford, who earned his first NHL point with an assist Thursday, “has become an effective player on composure with the puck, skating, carrying, making plays, seeing the ice, getting the puck in and getting a forecheck going. Is that where he should be throughout the rest of the year? I can’t answer that. But he certainly has impressed all of us as a coaching staff and I like what I’m seeing.”

Lately, there hasn’t been a lot to like team-wide.

When Lombardi was the San Jose Sharks’ general manager, his teams improved in six straight seasons. He has extended that streak with the Kings: Since his first season, 2006-07, his teams have had 71, 79 and 101 points. Do they continue that upward trend or slip? The next move is his.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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