Kings lose their second in a row

Playing at home for the first time in three weeks, the Kings on Saturday did little to reward the 16th sellout crowd of what has been, to this point, a season of exceeded expectations.

Unable to get their power play going -- and so vulnerable that they surrendered a short-handed goal to the Canadiens in the second period -- the Kings fell to Montreal, 4-2, at Staples Center. Coupled with their loss Thursday at Nashville, the Kings have lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Jan. 9-11.

In winning the Canadiens vaulted into eighth in the East. The Kings remained fifth in the West but on tiebreakers: The Kings and Avalanche each have 80 points, but the Kings have more wins than Colorado, 38-37, and have played 64 games to Colorado’s 65.

“Just because we’re in right now doesn’t mean we’re in,” winger Ryan Smyth said. “We’ve got to play to catch the teams ahead of us instead of looking at the teams behind us.”

Fredrik Modin scored his first goal since the Kings acquired him from Columbus in a deadline-day deal, backhanding a slick pass from Michal Handzus past goaltender Jaroslav Halak at 7:12 of the third period. That cut Montreal’s lead to 3-2 and jolted the Kings out of a lethargy that had carried over from their weak second period, but Tomas Plekanec scored into an empty net with 1:11 left in the third period to clinch the victory for the Canadiens.

“We’re not going to find excuses for this, but we’ve got to get better. That’s the bottom line,” center Anze Kopitar said.

“It’s playoff time basically. Everybody is desperate to get into the playoffs. Everybody is desperate to get the best seed possible, whatever the case may be … It’s going to be hard games. It doesn’t matter if we play Edmonton or Chicago, they’re going to be hard and we’ve just got to get ready.”

They weren’t ready for the Canadiens’ early pressure Saturday. After Jonathan Quick had stopped shots by Benoit Pouliot and Scott Gomez and tried to cover up the puck, Brian Gionta whacked it loose and into the net 22 seconds into the game.

The Kings matched that with 1:44 left in the period. Smyth played the puck to Jack Johnson, who fed Kopitar on the left wing. He got behind Montreal center Glen Metropolit and took advantage of his size and long reach to slip the puck past Halak for his 30th goal, two short of the personal standard he set in the 2007-08 season.

The Kings got three straight power plays in the second period but did nothing with them. In fact, they gave up a short-handed goal on the first of those power plays, allowing Montreal to take a 2-1 lead.

Smyth called it unacceptable, and he was right.

“Especially in today’s game you’ve got to capitalize on special teams and we didn’t do that,” he said. “Give them credit. They played well. They’re really desperate. They’re batting for the seventh, eighth spot. That’s a desperate hockey team and we’ve got to get back to it.”

The Canadiens struck again early in the third period. Doughty lost the puck behind the net to Pouliot, who fed it to Gomez and went to the front of the net. While Quick sprawled, Pouliot fired a wrist shot from about 24 feet out on the left side.

“We’ve got to play more desperate,” Smyth said. “The beginning of first period they come out and score and the beginning of the third they come out and score, that’s unacceptable. It puts you behind the eight-ball and you’ve got to play catch up.”

Modin brought the Kings close. Plekanec tried to clear the puck, but it was kept in the zone by Randy Jones. He passed to Handzus, who knocked the puck down and found Modin down low. Modin cut in front of Halak and slipped a backhander into the net.

But that was it for the Kings. “We need to start pushing our playoff-mode attitude the right way here,” Coach Terry Murray said. “As I said to the players, the playoffs just don’t start in the middle of April, they start in March in this league now.”

He must hope his team takes that to heart, and that these “playoffs” aren’t the only ones they’ll experience this season.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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