Loss to Ducks spoils outdoor experience for Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Their pre-game anthem, "We Are Los Angeles," blared through the Dodger Stadium speakers just as it does at Staples Center. The "South Park" skit played on the scoreboard. The outfield video screens implored fans to "Go Kings Go!"

As much as the Los Angeles Kings made the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series opener feel like a home game, not much changed once the puck dropped for the first outdoor West Coast regular season game in League history.

The Kings can't score indoors or outdoors after a 3-0 loss Saturday night to the Anaheim Ducks, who have kept L.A. scoreless for 116 minutes and 47 seconds during their past two games after surrendering an early goal in a 2-1 home win on Thursday.

"The bottom line is we're not hungry enough to score," defenseman Drew Doughty said. "The goalie is seeing the puck every time there's a shot at the net. There's no deflections being made. There's not many screens in front, and when the goalie's seeing the puck he's going to make the save. The goalies are too these days.

"At this point, us not scoring goals has been a constant theme and it's getting embarrassing. We need to pick up our socks and everyone needs to get hungry around the net and score goals."

The frustrating part for Los Angeles was that it played with the puck for much of the night but fell victim to two quick goals and, for a team that prides itself as much as the Ducks on coming back from a deficit, couldn't get many quality chances.

"Our puck control and puck possession time [in] the first period was very lopsided, and they come into the zone and score two goals," captain Dustin Brown said. "The offensive side, we have to finish our chances. Other than that, we're controlling the puck, playing low, doing all those right things. We've got to start finishing."

The Kings have put 120 shots on net against Anaheim in three games this season, with four goals to show for them. The outdoor game came in the middle of an eight-game stretch away from Staples Center for L.A., which has to snap out of its funk with a back-to-back set of road games against the San Jose Sharks and Phoenix Coyotes.

"The belief system in this room is what has gotten us this far," Brown said. "We understand, as a group, that we need to find ways to get points. I have 100 percent faith in this team to figure it out."

Brown and Kopitar sat next to each other in the converted Dodgers clubhouse explaining their scoring issues, just as they have done so many times at Staples Center. While the Kings' shot totals are satisfactory, a lot of them are from the perimeter.

The Kings were even given a penalty shot but Anze Kopitar shot it right into Jonas Hiller's pads.

"I just made up my mind as I went in and I saw the five-hole but shot it too high," Kopitar said.

Kopitar also broke in on Hiller from the left side in the second period, but Hiller came out to cut down the angle. L.A. again had a territorial advantage in the third but it was the same story: Mike Richards missed the net by about seven feet in the final minutes, and Andrew Cogliano scored in the empty net moments later.

That about summed it up for the Kings. This was technically their home game, made lively early by the pro-Kings crowd and all the L.A. touches, including the USC marching band. In the third period the "Let's Go Ducks!" chants briefly filled the air as the crowd of 54,099 thinned.

Doughty had to admit that the loss dampened his outdoor experience.

"You always want to remember this experience with a win," he said. "I'm still going to always remember it and feel good that I was able to be a part of this game. It's too bad we didn't win, and it's even worse that we're on a four-or five-game losing streak now and that we lost to the Ducks. That's how I'm going to remember it."