Kings rally from 2-0 deficit, then fall in marathon shootout

Kings Coach Terry Murray has made no secret of the fact he likes the makeup of his team.

But he may want to reconsider just how much he likes it after Thursday’s shootout loss to the hapless Edmonton Oilers.

Sure, it came in dramatic fashion, at the end of a franchise-record 10-round shootout. But the game still ended with the Kings losing for the second time in as many games.

For the Oilers, meanwhile, it was their first win on the road in two months. And it didn’t come cheaply, with Edmonton playing as well as the Kings did poorly -- something the Staples Center sellout crowd of 18,118 began to recognize midway through the second period when it started booing the home team.

The end came with Lubomir Visnovsky beating Kings goalie Erik Ersberg. Shawn Horcoff, Dustin Penner and Gilbert Brule also scored in the shootout for Edmonton.

For the Kings, Anze Kopitar, Wayne Simmonds and Michal Handzus found the back of the net. But it wasn’t enough to give them a victory, despite a late, desperate rally on goals by Dustin Brown and Ryan Smyth that erased a 2-0 deficit late in the third period.

The key now for Murray and the front office is determining whether the Kings have simply hit a patch of thin ice heading into the 16-day Olympic break or begun a troubling free fall.

Even with the consecutive losses, the Kings have won nine of their last 11, rank fifth in the Western Conference and remain on pace to reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

Looming, however, is Friday’s noon PST trade freeze, which will last through the Olympics. With the Kings in need of one more serviceable defenseman -- and, perhaps, a shot of energy given their last two efforts -- the pressure might be building to make a deal.

Murray favors patience over panic. After all, he has seen his team hit the skids before. Twice in the season’s first five weeks the Kings followed long periods of brilliant play with inexplicably poor games. And they bounced back both times.

“Chemistry is a very big part of the overall picture here,” Murray said. “The guys care for each other and care about the team. When you have that kind of an attitude you can put something good together.”

The most persistent rumor involving the Kings has them sending forward Alexander Frolov to the Montreal Canadiens..

On paper the deal makes sense. Frolov, who led the Kings with 32 goals last season, plays much of the time on the third line now.

For the Kings, adding a defenseman could be the final piece to their puzzle. But only if that piece fits in the dressing room as well.

“We’ve all seen in history over the years in this league where a deal is made [and] the guy doesn’t like it there, he doesn’t fit,” Murray said. “You get a little bit away from that team play and it can really send the wrong message to the rest of the guys in the locker room.”

For the time being Dean Lombardi, the Kings’ president and general manager, seems content to remain on the sidelines.

“No deals now,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Ersberg, getting his first start in goal in a month with regular Jonathan Quick felled by flu, kept Thursday’s game even until Edmonton’s Denis Grebeshkov beat him with a shot through traffic from the blue line at 13:38 of the second period. Penner made it 2-0 at 7:47 of the third period, scoring on a power play with a wrister from the left faceoff circle.

The Kings’ comeback began 3 1/2 minutes later with Brown backhanding the puck over Oilers goalie Jeff Deslauriers at 11:05 before Smyth tied the score, poking a loose puck through a crowd of players in front of the net with 4:48 to play in regulation.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.