Column: Kings kept to their game plan and, eventually, earned a win over the Ducks

This was when the Kings might have wavered, when they might have accepted defeat as readily and steadily as they did last season.

Down a goal to the Ducks on Saturday night with less than two minutes remaining in regulation time, with another loss all but sure to be strung onto a spiraling 1-6-1 slump, the Kings could have abandoned the game plan that had brought them early-season success. They could have turned their backs on first-year coach John Stevens and his insistence that they needed only to keep doing what they were doing and sharpen their execution.

Instead, they trusted him and each other enough to stay on a path that had become pitted and rocky but ultimately led them toward victory again.

“I thought tonight was our best effort in terms of staying with our game plan throughout the game regardless,” said Dustin Brown, whose persistence produced the tying goal with 92 seconds left in the third period, setting the stage for Trevor Lewis to score the shootout winner in the Kings’ 2-1 victory over the Ducks at Staples Center. “We’ve been behind in games, and we’ve been chasing the game a little bit. Tonight I thought we stuck to our game plan right to the end.”

Brown acknowledged some doubt had entered players’ minds and their locker room while they struggled to score and could hardly buy a win. But it was never enough doubt to knock them off the path they believe will again bring them the kind of success they enjoyed in their 11-2-2 start.

“There’s always a little bit of that,” Brown said of the uncertainty that had crept in. “Confidence is a funny thing, you know? When things are going great you feel like you could beat anybody. I think it’s times like these that kind of build the character of the group for the long term. So adversity is always good. I think it’s better to face this type of adversity early in the year and see what you’re really made of.”

Their victory on Saturday showed some of their failings (including an 0-for-four power play effort) and many of their strengths. “I think we’ve got a lot of work, quite honestly,” Brown said. “We got off to a good start and I think we’ve had a big serving of humble pie, really. Now we go on the road where we can hopefully get that workman mentality. We have a good team. We have a good group. It’s just a matter of playing the right way and getting that swagger.”

They can’t be boastful yet. As solid as their effort was on Saturday, they must keep in perspective that the Ducks were lacking five of their top nine forwards and were struggling, too, a slump that has reached 4-5-3.

Already missing Ryan Getzlaf (facial surgery), Ryan Kesler (hip surgery), Patrick Eaves (illness) and Ondrej Kase (upper-body injury), the Ducks had to scratch leading scorer Rickard Rakell on Saturday because of what was termed an upper-body injury. It’s serious enough that he won’t go on the remaining five games of the Ducks’ trip, though coach Randy Carlyle wouldn’t disclose the length of time Rakell is expected to be out. “We know we’ve stretched our lineup to our bare bones here,” Carlyle said. “All you can ask is your players to give you what they did tonight. They left it on the ice. They gave us everything they had.”

It was nearly enough for the Ducks to win. Goaltender Ryan Miller made Nick Ritchie’s redirect of a pass from Corey Perry 10:08 into the first period hold up almost long enough for the Ducks to get two points, but Brown and the Kings wouldn’t allow themselves to get discouraged. “They say be ready for 60 minutes,” Lewis said, “and it took us until the last minute.”

Brown said the Kings took heart from their effort in the second period, when they were getting pucks to the net even though nothing was going in. “There’s a lot of frustration in this room the last seven, eight games, but frustration because we want to be better, not any other type of frustration,” he said. “So I think that’s a good sign for us. When things have gotten tough we’ve gotten more mad….

“We’ve been good enough just to lose lately. I think this has been our best game in a while.”

They’ll have to maintain that level — or be even better — on their trip to Detroit, Washington, St. Louis and Chicago. Brown believes it’s possible, based on the team’s performance Saturday night. He recalled that before the Kings began their slump they defeated the Ducks in an emotional game at Anaheim on Nov. 7 but went on to get spanked by Tampa Bay a few days later. “That kind of put us into this skid,” he said, “and maybe a game like this can get you out, mentally.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen