Kings can’t power it up in 3-1 loss to the Blues

It was not enough for Dustin Brown that the Kings, despite a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, inched closer to clinching a playoff spot because Calgary lost and reduced the Kings’ magic number to 10 points.

“You look at the standings every day, but ultimately it comes down to how we play the game. It should be irrelevant whether Detroit or Calgary or any other team wins,” he said.

He gets points for honesty. But he and the Kings didn’t get much more Thursday in another uneven performance that dropped them to sixth in the West after Nashville won.

Instead of being buoyed by a third-period comeback the night before in Colorado that got them to a shootout point, the Kings squandered three power plays in the first period at Scottrade Center, including a five-on-three edge that lasted 41 seconds. “We’ve got to get at least a couple there,” Anze Kopitar said.

Overall they took only five shots on seven power plays and converted one, a backhander by Brown at 4:38 of the third period after BarretJackman coughed up the puck in the corner.

That cut the Kings’ deficit to a goal and they started swarming, just as they had in pulling even at Colorado. “We were all over them,” Brown said. “Six minutes left I like our chances, even being down 2-1.”

But the Blues, eight points out of the final West playoff spot with eight games left, padded their lead to 3-1 at the 14-minute mark. Paul Kariya’s deflection slid inside the right post, and a video review showed the entire puck had crossed the line before Kings defenseman Randy Jones kicked it away.

“That was a backbreaker,” said Brown, who had four of the Kings’ 31 shots on Chris Mason and had four other attempts blocked.

Too many little things seem to break their focus these days.

St. Louis had only four shots in the first period but scored on one, a two-on-one that resulted when Davis Drewiske mishandled the puck and a Kings forward fell. B.J. Crombeen finished it off by whipping a shot past Jonathan Quick at 3:57.

The second period was much the same. A turnover by Drew Doughty in the neutral zone led to the Blues’ second goal, at 1:06. Keith Tkachuk took a shot that an unchecked T.J. Oshie easily rebounded from the right side of the slot.

Brown cut the lead in half but Kariya put it out of reach and left the Kings to wonder when they’ll put together a complete game.

“The second period, they get that early goal and then we took over. The third period we took over and then that one that went in. It’s a little frustrating,” Kopitar said.

They have no time for annoyance because they play Dallas at home Saturday before heading back on the road to face Minnesota and Nashville. The team they need to concern themselves with most is themselves, and their primary mission must be to recapture the consistency they’ve lacked while going 5-5-2 since the Olympic break.

“We have spurts,” Brown said. “We don’t need to be great. We had some great shifts in the third. It’s a matter of having great shifts mixed in with good shifts, rather than great shifts mixed in with below-average shifts.

“We’ve got to bring those couple shifts to average or good shifts and we’re going to be fine.”

If not, the ground beneath them could shift uncomfortably.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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