Three things we learned from the Kings’ 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers

Reporting from EDMONTON, CANADA â€”  The Kings on Thursday completed a season-long nine-game road trip with a 3-1 loss in Edmonton. And though the trip wasn’t a disaster — the Kings finished a respectable 3-4-2 — the team clearly limped to the finish line, losing its last three. “These are just things we have to learn from,â€� forward Kyle Clifford said.

So in that spirit, here are three things we learned from Thursday’s game — and from the trip in general:

Anze Kopitar has officially gone missing

It’s time to start tacking fliers up on telephone poles and putting his picture on milk cartons because the Kings clearly need to find Anze Kopitar. The team captain has just one goal since Oct. 25 and only three for the season. And though he has a team-high 13 assists, just one of those came on a trip the that Kings finished with 11 goals in seven games. That’s left Kopitar on pace for the worst offensive season in his career.

“The top end of our lineup, there’s not a lot of goals there,� Coach Darryl Sutter said. “Kopi’s having a really hard time finishing.�

The Kings are wasting opportunities. Well, at least some of them are.

The team had 66 shots but just two goals in back-to-back losses to Vancouver and Edmonton. So credit the Kings with creating opportunities, but not with finishing them. “It’s just a matter of sticking to our plan and executing,� said Nick Shore, whose third-period goal Thursday was the team’s only score. “When you have chances … you’ve got to be able to finish on them.�

Defenseman Drew Doughty — who broke his stick over the goal in frustration Thursday — had a team-high five shots while the Kings’ top line of Kopitar, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown combined for just four.

Brown, by the way, was scoreless on the trip — and for the month of December. After posting double-digit goal totals in 11 consecutive seasons, he has only four scores in 36 games into this one.

The Kings appear a little snake-bitten on the other end of the ice as well. In the losses to Vancouver and Edmonton, the go-ahead goals both nights came on unusual plays, one on a tip-in of a skipping two-bounce pass from the right boards, and the other on a deflection that was batted in off goalie Peter Budaj’s skate.

Home cooking won’t solve all the team’s problems

Most of the Kings deflected suggestions that the long road trip was responsible for their recent skid, so simply going home won’t turn their fortunes around.

“I don’t think going home has anything to do with it,� Sutter said after Thursday’s loss. “We go home, get home in the middle of the night, play again, so that’s the way it works. We got beat on the scoreboard. We can’t complain about much else.�

But with eight of their next nine games in Staples Center, where they are 10-4-1, the players were happy to be returning to Los Angeles nonetheless.

“Every team has a tough schedule,� said Budaj, who has played well during the slump. “We’ve had a tough schedule in December but that’s the way it goes. And now that we’ve got to go home, let’s turn it around.�

Added Shore as he prepared for the charter flight to Los Angeles: “This is the tail end of a long trip for us, so hopefully we pick up some points at home.�

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