Kings need to regain their spark, and in a hurry

It’s time to worry.

Not to panic, but to be concerned that since the Olympic break the Kings have lacked the drive and cohesion that had fueled their turnaround season and now bear an unpleasant resemblance to the bad, old Kings who would stumble through March and be done by early April.

Despite preparing with two vigorous practice days, the Kings were lifeless Thursday during a 3-0 loss to the Blackhawks, who had played the previous night at Anaheim. The loss, the team’s third in four games and first home shutout loss since Feb. 12, 2009, dropped the Kings’ record since the Olympics to 3-4-1.

“There was not much good out there tonight,” Coach Terry Murray said.

They’re still sixth in the West, but Nashville has matched their 85 points. The Kings have two games in hand, but that won’t mean anything if they can’t find their missing spark.

“If we want to get into the playoffs we’ve got to execute right now,” winger Ryan Smyth said. “We’ve got to hit the reset button, for sure.”

Troy Brouwer converted a rebound in the second period and Tomas Kopecky scored twice in the third, beating Jonathan Quick on a stoppable shot from above the left circle at 2:48 and pouncing on a turnover by Jack Johnson for a 15-foot wrist shot at 6:08. Antti Niemi had to stop only 17 shots to earn his fifth shutout of the season and stop Chicago’s three-game skid.

Earlier Thursday, responding to Chicago Coach Joel Quenneville’s condemnation of James Wisniewski’s vicious hit on Brent Seabrook the night before, Ducks General Manager Bob Murray said Quenneville would be better off if he “worries about his goaltending and stops trying to run the National Hockey League.”

Quenneville didn’t have anything to worry about Thursday.

The battered Blackhawks outshot the Kings, 37-17. That’s a tribute to their depth and character minus Brian Campbell, who suffered a broken collarbone and a broken rib Sunday after a shove from Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin propelled him into the boards, and Seabrook, who suffered what the club is calling an upper-body injury after the hit by Wisniewski.

The Kings had no such excuses. They were all present in body, if not in mind.

“It’s just a lack of execution right now, not completing passes, not doing the things that brought us success in the early part of the year,” defenseman Matt Greene said.

He said this slide could mushroom only if the Kings allow it to.

“But I think we have a strong enough group in here and strong enough team not to let that happen,” he said. “It’s up to us not to let it happen.”

About the only positive note for the Kings was that they extended their penalty-killing streak to 20, dating to the second period against Nashville on March 4.

The Blackhawks got to Quick at 11:36 of the second period. Defenseman Jordan Hendry wrested the puck from Dustin Brown in the neutral zone and made a long pass to Patrick Kane on the right side. Kane went to the net for a shot that glanced off Quick’s arm and landed next to the goalie’s right foot; Jonathan Toews poked at it before Brouwer jabbed it past Quick.

The Kings didn’t get a shot until 12:36, a nonthreatening effort by Greene from about 60 feet. Nonthreatening describes their performance Thursday. “As a team, we need to play better,” Quick said. “We can say that all we want. We just have to go out and do it.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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