Kings lose at Ottawa, 5-3

After playing three straight overtime games, the Kings finished things in regulation time on Monday. But the result ended a positive streak they had carried into this trip.

The Ottawa Senators took advantage of several defensive miscues by the Kings to score four goals on eight shots in the second period against Jonathan Quick, and they held on for a 5-3 victory at Canadian Tire Centre. The Kings had earned standings points in their previous nine games (7-0-2).

Coach Darryl Sutter used an unusual seven-defensemen, 11-forward configuration, with defenseman Derek Forbort drawing in and forward Jordan Weal sitting out. However, the move didn’t shore up the defense, leaving the Kings with their first regulation-time loss since Nov. 22 at Carolina.

The Kings had pulled within 4-3 halfway through the third period but Mika Zibanejad jammed home the rebound of a shot by Bobby Ryan for an insurance goal at 12:11.

However, the game began well for the Kings, who scored the game’s first goal at 14:21 of the first period.

A ghastly giveaway by Jordan Nolan in his own end allowed Mark Stone to create a scoring chance for Zach Smith, which was stopped only because of an alert reaction and fine save by Quick. Just about a minute later, Milan Lucic fed the puck to Jeff Carter, who found defenseman Jamie McBain with a long lead pass. McBain’s slap shot from the top of the right circle got past Craig Anderson for McBain’s second goal of the season.

Because the Kings didn’t have four full lines, Sutter had Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter double-shift at center. On defense, Drew Doughty was paired with both Brayden McNabb and Forbort, which led to nine minutes and 26 seconds’ ice time for Doughty in the first period.

That seven-defensemen configuration didn’t work so well in the second period, when the Senators scored three times on three shots in a span of three minutes and 34 seconds.

They pulled even at 1-1 at 2:29, on a sequence in which McNabb fell and was out of the play. Mike Hoffman, in front, whipped a shot past Quick after a pass from Zibanejad. Kyle Turris made it 2-1 for Ottawa on a shot from the high slot, off a feed from Erik Karlsson, and Karlsson extended that to 3-1 with a bouncing shot after the Senators had gained possession because of a bad pass off the boards by McNabb.

Ottawa extended its lead to 4-1 at 14:34 of the second period, when Hoffman scored off a nicely executed give-and-go with Curtis Lazar. The Kings cut that to 4-2 at 17:47, during a power play. Alec Martinez’s shot off the end boards took a hop that Anderson didn’t expect, leaving him helpless after he came out to play it and the puck caromed in front of the vacated net. Tyler Toffoli, who played his junior hockey in Ottawa, scored into the open net for his first goal in nine games and second in the last 15.

Jake Muzzin brought the Kings within a goal at the 10-minute mark of the third period with a shot from the high slot, assisted by Kopitar and Lucic after Toffoli had made a good play to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

Earlier in the day, the Kings announced they had recalled defensemen Jeff Schultz and Nick Ebert from Ontario (Calif.) of the American Hockey League and had placed Kyle Clifford and Trevor Lewis on injured reserve, in both cases because of upper-body injuries.

The Kings next play on Thursday, when they will face the Canadiens at Montreal. They were scheduled to travel to a mountain resort after Monday’s game for two days of team building before they go to Montreal.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, visiting Ottawa, said the league had not yet made a decision on the Kings’ bid to host the 2017 All-Star game.

Helene.elliott@latimes.com

Twitter: @helenenothelen