A day later, Kings’ loss to Blackhawks still leaves a bitter taste

The near-instant analysis coaches deliver in postgame news conferences often changes by the next morning, when a second viewing of the videotape shows them details they missed at first glance.

But Coach Terry Murray’s thoughts on the Kings’ 3-0 loss to the Blackhawks on Thursday at Staples Center hadn’t changed Friday after he took time to look at the game again.

His conclusion remained the same: His team didn’t gain the confidence and momentum it should have after killing an early double-minor penalty against Justin Williams and was too tentative throughout the game. What players described as a failure to execute was, to Murray, a lack of composure.

“My thoughts are that we were just caught in between the game, it seemed like, after killing off the penalty kills. That was my reaction immediately postgame, and I still feel the same after watching the game,” he said Friday.

“In the offensive zone our forecheck was inconsistent, not able to get possession of the puck because of not getting it stopped, and support was just too far away. And same thing in our [defensive] zone. They seemed to move the puck from one side of the ice to the other, and our pins and seals were just not there. So recovering pucks was hard, and whenever we did get a puck possession it was time to change, and now you’re dumping the puck back in and getting fresh people on the ice and kind of going through the same process again.”

He also said the Blackhawks’ second goal, a long shot by Tomas Kopecky on an unscreened Jonathan Quick at 2:48 of the third period, seemed to deflate the Kings and tip them toward their third loss in four games.

“We weren’t generating anything on the offensive part of it, any shots on net,” Murray said, “and once that second goal went in it really seemed to be a very big hole to climb out of in that particular game, and we just never got that piece of play that we’d like to.”

However, Murray said he didn’t fault Quick on the goal and will start him Saturday night against the New York Islanders at Staples Center.

“I don’t see fatigue and I will come back with him,” Murray said. “I thought he played that particular play fine. He’s out of his net. He’s seeing the shot the whole way. He makes the right move, and it just went under his pad. He just got caught there.

“I’m seeing a player that’s real sharp. He was excellent in the first period on the penalty kills, and he stayed focused and good through the whole game. We have to give him better support. We need to play better in front of him as a team.

“I’ll stay with him and take a look as we go into this coming week, next couple of weeks, with the back-to-back games on the road.”

Murray will again reconfigure his line combinations and said he’s also contemplating a change on defense to get Davis Drewiske some playing time and add mobility on defense. He planned to ponder his options Friday night.

Murray said the lines for Saturday’s game will be (left to right): Brad Richardson-Anze Kopitar-Wayne Simmonds; Fredrik Modin- Michal Handzus-Dustin Brown; Alexander Frolov- Jeff Halpern-Justin Williams; and Ryan Smyth-Jarret Stoll-Scott Parse. Enforcers Richard Clune and Raitis Ivanans will exit the lineup.

The Kings have scored five goals in their last four games. Three of those goals came on power plays.

Murray said the Kopitar line, which played as a trio a few weeks ago, was a “hard-work” line. “They really give us big tempo. They were on the puck,” Murray said.

“They made some good things happen but really energized our team, and I think when you have a line like that — that can come out with that kind of look — we’re more apt to follow it up the next several shifts with the other lines.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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