Kings are overwhelmed by Flames’ offensive barrage in 7-2 loss

For one fleeting moment, it was a symbolic play that summed up a night that honored Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.

Unfortunately for the Kings, the rest of the game had to be played.

A Monday night that began with the recognition of Brown as the franchise leader in games played and also represented Kopitar’s 1,000th game descended into an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Calgary Flames at Staples Center.

Brown was assisted by Kopitar on a first-period goal, but then the Kings allowed five straight goals to a Calgary team that rested most of its regulars.

The Kings won’t have time to stew with a game Tuesday, and Drew Doughty perhaps spoke for the team when he said, “I wish we played all four [remaining] games in a row, to be honest. I just want to get this over with.”

It was already an uncomfortable final week for the Kings but their pride was stung. Calgary already clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and did not play Norris Trophy candidate Mark Giordano, plus Mikael Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk, TJ Brodie, Noah Hanifin and Travis Hamonic.

That made it more alarming that they chased Jonathan Quick from the game with four goals in the third period, by James Neal, Derek Ryan, Andrew Mangiapane and Mark Jankowski.

“It was just breakdowns, odd-man rushes, plays that needed to be made and weren’t there, and guys in the wrong positions,” Kopitar said. “That was it.”

To make it worse, the Kings lost Kurtis MacDermid to an upper-body injury after he crushed Calgary’s Sam Bennett late in the second period, although interim coach Willie Desjardins wasn’t sure if the injury occurred on that play and didn’t have an update.

Bennett, who took a run at Doughty earlier in the shift, got up wobbly and needed help getting off the ice. The Kings subsequently allowed two goals in the opening three minutes of the third period.

“If that hit would do anything, it should have fired us up,” Desjardins said. “They got one right off at the start of the period that seemed to deflate us and then they got another one right after that. For whatever reason … we weren’t ready in the third.”

Brown took center stage in a pregame ceremony with previous games-played leader Dave Taylor, and his goal neatly followed the story line. Kopitar carried the puck behind the net and passed it up top to Doughty, whose diagonal pass Brown buried into an open net to tie it 2-2.

“I don’t know if anything went right tonight,” said Doughty, whose turnover led to Calgary’s seventh goal. “We just didn’t really have a good third period. We just gave pucks away.”

Durzi signs

Sean Durzi signed a three-year entry level contract, the team announced. The defenseman was acquired with Carl Grundstrom from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trade for Jake Muzzin.

UP NEXT

AT ARIZONA

When: 7 p.m.

On the air: TV: Prime; Radio: iHeartRadio (LA Kings Audio Network)

Update: Darcy Kuemper was named the league’s third star of the week after he recorded two shutouts to help Arizona stay in the hunt for a wild-card berth. The former Kings goalie has a career-best 26 wins this season.

Sign up for our daily sports newsletter »

curtis.zupke@latimes.com

Twitter: @curtiszupke