Kings’ Canadian Trip Ends With Egg on Their Faces

Based on the number of slammed sticks, depressed faces and frustrated yells, it was easy to tell how the Kings finished their three-game trip to Canada Saturday night at Maple Leaf Gardens.

“I don’t know if [the players] were embarrassed, but I was,” King Coach Larry Robinson said after his team sunk to a new season-low with a 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs before a sellout crowd of 15,726.

“We had no life. . . . We have this image of being a physical team but we could have put a few eggs in [our] pockets and they wouldn’t have been broken.”

After back-to-back losses at Montreal and Ottawa, the Kings barely did anything right against Toronto, the last place team in the Central Division:

--Goaltender Stephane Fiset struggled early and was replaced by Frederic Chabot 9:25 into the second period after giving up four goals in 22 shots.

--The Kings lost for the first time this season after scoring first in a game (Russ Courtnall scored 2:45 into the first period) and are now 9-1 in those games.

--The seven goals by Toronto was a season-high for the Maple Leafs and are the most scored by a King opponent.

--The Maple Leafs outshot the Kings, 39-22, their highest single-game total this season.

--The five-goal margin of defeat was the Kings worst loss of the season.

--The Kings’ power play was zero for four and now has scored only once in eight games (1-29).

“We started off well with our first shifts but that was our top and we went downhill from there,” said Robinson about the Kings, who dropped to .500 for the first time since Nov. 8 at 12-12-5. “It wasn’t any one person . . . we had some of our best players who just didn’t do anything.”

The Kings began the game strongly with at least three solid scoring chances in the first two minutes. After aggressive shifts by lines centered by Yanic Perreault and Jozef Stumpel, Courtnall put the Kings ahead, 1-0, thanks to crisp passes by Garry Galley and Ian Laperriere.

Their momentum, however, was short-lived because fewer than three minutes later, Toronto’s Mats Sundin--who had two goals--scored on a wrap-around at 4:58.

“We got the lead and then right after they scored, that changed the game right there,” said Fiset, who dropped to 11-10-3. “It was a bad goal and I should have had it. The tempo changed right away. It was there game the rest of the way.”

Toronto took a 2-1 lead later in the first period on another soft goal when Alyn McCauley snuck a rebound between the Fiset’s legs at 9:23.

The Kings fell behind, 3-1, when Wendel Clark’s shot from the right circle slid under First’s right armpit at 8:16 of the second.

Fiset was pulled 69 seconds later after he gave up a goal by Toronto’s Mike Johnson, who avoided King defenseman Doug Zmolek to score from the top of the crease.

In the third period, Chabot--who finished with 13 saves--gave up goals by Sergei Berezin and Sundin as the Maple Leafs completed their seven unanswered goals to take a 7-1 lead with 8:53 to play.

So after a 7-3-1 stretch, the Kings find themselves winless in three games--their longest losing streak of the season--and searching for answers.

“Anyone who watched the game could see that we didn’t hit them after we got the lead,” King left wing Matt Johnson said. “We started out hitting in the first period but then we stopped doing it and we lost the game. Everyone has to accept that. Everyone has to be responsible. It’s not two guys, it’s not three it’s everybody.”