Struggling, short-handed Kings lose 6th in a row

LOS ANGELES — Missing 5 injured players, the Kings got done 40 minutes with a pb connected moxie and bully intentions Thursday night.

That wasn’t capable to get them done the last 20 minutes against the veteran-laden Winnipeg Jets, who prevailed, 3-2, astatine Staples Center to manus the Kings their sixth consecutive loss.

Forwards Rasmus Kupari and Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings (1-5-1), and Jonathan Quick made 28 saves. The Kings, who mislaid defenseman Drew Doughty (bruised knee) for astatine slightest 8 weeks and defenseman Sean Walker (torn ACL and MCL) for the play during their caller four-game trip, are besides without Quinton Byfield, Lias Andersson and Andreas Athananasiou.

Center Pierre-Luc Dubois scored doubly for Winnipeg and guardant Andrew Copp added a goal. Winger Kyle Connor contributed 3 assists and defenseman Neal Pionk had two. Backup goalie Eric Comrie made 29 saves.

The Jets, who were besides missing important figures successful forwards Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, person made a wont of rallying against Southern California clubs. They came backmost against the Kings connected Thursday, scored 2 speedy goals successful the closing 1:20 to bushed the Ducks, 4-3, connected Tuesday and had responded to an aboriginal shortage with 5 consecutive goals successful their erstwhile gathering with the Ducks.

Dubois scored his 2nd extremity of the nighttime connected a backhanded redirection with 12:25 left. Connor zoomed down the near helping partition and centered the puck for Dubois, who was unmarked contempt the beingness of defenseman Olli Maatta successful beforehand of the net. Connor and Dubois person combined for 22 points successful 7 games this season.

An aboriginal tripping punishment to halfway Phillip Danault successful the 3rd play spot the Kings. On the ensuing powerfulness play, Connor dished the puck from the right-wing partition to the slot. There, defenseman Austin Strand failed to necktie up Copp’s stick, which deflected the puck past Quick. With 9 points successful 7 games, Copp, 27, is connected gait to acceptable a vocation precocious successful goals, assists and points for a 2nd consecutive season.

The 2nd play featured conscionable 1 extremity but nary shortage of pace, resulting successful a spectacular near-miss for guardant Trevor Moore and the request for Quick to beryllium astatine his sharpest successful net. Quick made 19 consecutive saves crossed a span of astir 40 minutes.

Just 1:41 into the 2nd period, the Kings took their archetypal pb since going up 1-0 successful their 7-3 nonaccomplishment to St. Louis connected Saturday. Danault collected a turnover and heaved a slick unsighted walk disconnected his backhand for Kempe, who smoked a wrist changeable past Comrie.

The Kings got connected the committee with 8:37 near successful the archetypal play acknowledgment to Kupari’s hockey consciousness and a fortunate bounce. A tennis-style volley successful the neutral portion allowed winger Arthur Kaliyev to cod the puck and find Kupari patiently awaiting the puck down the defense. Kupari broke successful connected extremity and got Comrie to wound with a measurement to the acold broadside earlier flipping the puck to the adjacent broadside for his archetypal extremity of the season.

The Jets had opened the scoring astir 4 minutes into the crippled erstwhile a unreserved accidental near a rebound for DuBois, who wrapped astir the nett to worldly the puck past Quick’s near skate. Quick’s limb was impeded momentarily by incidental interaction from Morrissey, denying him an different definite save.

More to travel connected this story.