New Month but Same Old Result as Blackhawks March Over Kings

CHICAGO — The Kings, having lost its second in a row Sunday night and 8 of its last 12--are making an effort to be merely depressed rather than fatalistic.

Such a subtle difference in outlook requires enormous effort in the wake of the Kings’ 6-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday before 17,466 in Chicago Stadium.

These Kings are beginning to resemble the Kings of October. In their first month of the season, the Kings were 3-8-0 and, it was said, surely back on course to repeat their disaster season of the year before, when they finished with the second-worst record in the NHL, 23-49-8.

But the Kings rebounded from that October, full of young players and new spirit. Then came February. The Kings won three games in the entire month. Now they’re 0-1 in March.

Something very basic and very harmful is happening to this team, some kind of coming apart at the seams that everyone is aware of, but have no idea how to reverse.

The mental lapses and lack of intensity are becoming familiar to those who watch the Kings. Coach Mike Murphy reported Sunday night that his team was again in a mental funk.

“We weren’t mentally prepared to play the game,” Murphy said. “We played a mentally sloppy game. Physically we were there, mentally we were not. We had a team on the fringe tonight. There were not many guys in the thick of it.”

What is to explain this lapse? This is not a team that is out of it. At 25-31-7, the Kings need only to play safe hockey to make the playoffs. The Blackhawks (25-29-10) are in third place in the Norris Division but playing with the zest of a team fighting for its post-season life.

“I don’t have any answers,” said a somber Dave (Tiger) Williams. “Anybody who is looking ahead to the playoffs now with 18 games left is a bird brain. The second thing is to play .500 hockey. That should be our objective.”

With the exception of goaltending, the Kings are struggling in every facet. Again Sunday night, the King defense was pressured into making mistakes.

“When you give up 12 goals in two games, you’ve got to start thinking about defense,” King defenseman Mark Hardy said. The Kings lost Saturday to Minnesota, 6-3.

“As far as in our own zone--we were lost,” Hardy said. “We aren’t smart at the blue line.”

Goaltender Rollie Melanson was asked if this slump is similar to what the Kings experienced in October.

“I think it’s worse,” he said. “In an 80-game schedule, you have to go through it a few times. We aren’t machines out there. We have to work our way out of it.”

Melanson did his part, making 34 saves and facing several breakaways and outnumbered rushes. The Blackhawks could have easily added three more goals had it not been for Melanson.

Sunday’s game was reminiscent of Saturday’s--the King power play converted one of six chances, giving it a 4-21 conversion record in the last four games.

That’s a lot of chances and a low output. The Kings had two power plays to start the first period Sunday, but it was Chicago that scored first, on Mike Stapleton’s goal at 10:39.

The King offense couldn’t get started and the King defense couldn’t get the puck out of its own zone.

“Generally, you aren’t moving the puck because people aren’t available to move it to,” Murphy said.

He added that the problem Sunday was multiplied as defensemen held the puck too long when forwards were open, allowing Chicago to move in and cover.

That kind of situation set up the Blackhawks’ second goal. Rich Preston scored at 14:01 after sustained pressure in the King zone.

The Kings got their only goal of the game in the period, a power-play goal by Bernie Nicholls, from Williams and Jim Fox, at 16:03.

It got worse for the Kings in the next period.

“We thought we played pretty well in the second period, and we came out of it 4-1,” Murphy said, noting the irony.

Denis Savard and Steve Larmer scored in the period for the Blackhawks.

Curt Fraser and Wayne Presley scored for Chicago in the third.

What can a coach do to spur his team to perform up to its capabilities?

“You’ve got to be on your team,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to regroup. We’ve got to get back to basics.”