LOS ANGELES, Calif. – During these unfamiliar starting times, a more than familiar result has begun to irk the Los Angeles Kings, who are now 0-3 in afternoon games this season after Saturday's 1-0 setback to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Combined with losses to Detroit and Montreal, Los Angeles has been outscored 7-2 during early starts, combining to go 1-for-19 on the power play after an ineffective 0-for-8 effort against Columbus.
"You guys make a deal out of it. [Today] I thought we dominated the play," Dustin Brown said when asked whether it was a coincidence that the team hasn't found success in the afternoon.
"We didn't score a goal. I thought we were ready to play, our preparation was there. Maybe that was a coincidence. I thought we were ready to go today from a physical standpoint, from an emotional standpoint. It wasn't like we walked through this game. We've got to find the back of the net. That's it."
And one of the unsettling issues about the Kings' 2011-12 season has resurfaced – the fact that they can outplay an inferior opponent, dictate the pace of the game and dominate puck possession, show a quality compete level, yet come up empty in the goal column. The 1-0 loss was the third 1-0 game the Kings have played in the last nine days. Los Angeles is 1-1-1 in those games.
"You know what? They've just got to keep banging away," Head Coach Darryl Sutter said. "It ain't about being fancy. Keep trying to score goals. I think we can still do better. The kids on the point shooting, especially [Jack Johnson], can hit the net more. [Anze Kopitar] can curl and shoot more. Our net presence has to be square with the goalie more."
"There's probably a lot of teams in the league that wish they had one-nothing games."
The power play has one goal in its last seven games and was unsuccessful against the 29th-ranked unit despite an ample 5:23 of power play time to begin the third period.
"It doesn't matter what they're ranked. We've got to score," Jarret Stoll said. "You've got to play the same way against the number one penalty killing team in the league. It's a very fine line out there. It's a very fine line to score, not to score, to win by one, lose by one. We've just got to find more ways, better ways to score."
Of course, those very issues led to Terry Murray's dismissal last month. Now that the Sutter honeymoon is over – he guided the team to an impressive 5-0-3 record in his first eight games prior to Saturday's result – the true effect on his rebuilding of the team's confidence and belief that the team will score more goals will be put to the test through the season's final 40 games.
"At some point he is not going to be all positive, as we all know," Kopitar said. "It is what it is. He's definitely come in and made us better players and a better team. Now we have to respond and start putting some wins together again."
NOTES: Columbus Coach Scott Arniel was impressed with his team's defensive effort Saturday: "I think certainly Curtis [ Sanford ] was certainly the big story there. He played outstanding, made the big saves. But I have got to give a lot of credit to our team. We blocked a lot of shots. Penalty kill did an outstanding job. They [the Kings] did get shots but we really took away any of the backdoor, tap-in type of things. If there were rebounds we cleared them out of there. Our shot blocking [today] was one of the best I've seen it this year." … Los Angeles has killed off 34 straight penalties and 81 of their last 84. The club record is 46 consecutive kills, set in 2001-02. … Jonathan Quick is 6-1-3 in his last nine games with a 1.18 GAA and .955 save percentage. … Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin and the Washington Capitals visit STAPLES Center for their lone 2011-12 appearance on Monday, a game that can be seen on FOX Sports West at 7:30 p.m.
