Kings lose third straight to finish trip on low note

The Kings drew their season-long nine-game trip to a close in Edmonton on Thursday, completing a 16-day odyssey that covered more than 8,800 miles and took them to eight states and two Canadian provinces.

It also ended the same way it started — with a loss, as the Kings fell to the Oilers, 3-1.

And when they begin to unpack Friday, the Kings will find they returned with a lot of unwanted baggage. Such as a three-game losing streak, including consecutive losses in regulation-length games for the first time since Nov. 11. Or a punchless attack that managed to score only twice on 66 shots in the last two losses, giving them 11 goals in their last seven games.

And for that Coach Darryl Sutter didn’t blame his team or even the schedule-makers as much as he credited the Oilers.

“We got beat on the scoreboard but we can’t complain about much else,” he said. “We played our asses off, got beat by one goal. We played a hell of a hockey team in a tough building.”

A tough, new building, with Thursday marking the Kings’ first visit to Rogers Place, the Oilers’ sparkling $475-million downtown home. Suffice it to say they probably liked the drafty Northlands Coliseum better since the Kings lost only one of their last 10 games there.

The Oilers showed early they intend to be inhospitable hosts in their modern digs, opening the scoring 2:32 into the second period on Patrick Maroon’s power-play goal.

The Kings’ defense apparently lost track of Maroon, who stood alone behind the goal line, off the left shoulder of Kings goalie Peter Budaj. After taking a Jordan Eberle pass from the right faceoff circle, Maroon drove the crease, reached around Budaj and tucked the puck inside at the far post.

It was the second power-play goal given up by the Kings in two nights, following a spell in which they killed off 26 consecutive penalties over 10 games.

The Kings got that one back three minutes into the third period when Nick Shore picked up a loose puck in the slot and fired a wrist shot on goal. But that was the only time the Kings managed to beat Oilers goalie Cam Talbot, who finished with 28 saves.

And the tie proved short-lived with defenseman Eric Gryba putting Edmonton in front to stay less than four minutes later, batting a loose puck out of the air and into the net for his first goal of the season.

The sequence started with Budaj making a sprawling save on Eberle, then kicking the puck out in front of Gryba, who knocked it over the prone goalie and into the net.

“It doesn’t happen often. It’s just a lucky bounce,” said Budaj, who quickly thought better of that assessment.

“You can’t really blame everything on lucky bounces,” he corrected. “Sometimes it happens.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the final goal, scoring into an empty net with 14 seconds to play to leave the Kings 1-5 in Canada this season and 3-4-2 on their extended trip.

And while the Kings are clearly homesick, they will come home a bit healthier after activating defenseman Brayden McNabb from injured reserve, bringing their roster back to the 23-man limit. McNabb, who sat out 27 games because of a broken collarbone, skated 22 shifts and more than 17 minutes.

Then he slept in his own bed Friday morning.

“Home is home,” Budaj said. “What’s better? Being in a hotel or being in your own bed? But you can’t really blame anything on [that]. We had a tough schedule in December.

“We just have to find a way to win a game. There’s no pointing fingers. Everybody has to expect more from each other and keep battling.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com