Dustin Brown

Although the Kings gave up 13 goals in their last two games ? as many as they had allowed in their previous seven games ? Coach Terry Murray's plans Friday didn't include a "bag skate," in which players skate until they heave. "Those only make me feel better. They don't make the players feel better," Murray said after an exacting practice that emphasized execution, concentration and attention to fundamentals. No member of the Kings felt particularly good Friday, but an unforgiving schedule left them no time to mope.

Funny how two guys managed to combine for 79 regular-season wins and many of the questions in Vancouver and Los Angeles are striking the same note of concern just before the playoffs open. Will four days off between games do the trick for the Kings' Jonathan Quick , the goalie winless in his last eight games? And what of that former tower of strength, Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo , who has looked like he has taken a night or two off since the Olympics? "He looks, to me, like he's ready," Kings Coach Terry Murray said of Quick.

The Kings arrived in Los Angeles in the wee hours Sunday morning, ending Part 1 of their annual February tour of North America. It was a happy flight home after Saturday's lengthy 4-3 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames, the Kings' first win in the Saddledome since December 2005 and one that lifted the team into the top eight in the NHL's Western Conference. Now comes the hard part. Because after doing some laundry and picking up the dry cleaning, the team leaves again Wednesday to continue its franchise-record streak of 10 road games with an eastern swing in which they will play six games and cover more than 5,000 miles in 12 days.

For the Kings, still in the early stages of their latest but most promising rebuilding process, progress is usually measured in small increments. Occasionally, they take big steps, as they did Tuesday with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Dallas Stars at Staples Center that gave them their first three-game winning streak this season.

Had goaltender Roberto Luongo played as poorly in the Olympic finale between Canada and the U.S. as he played Thursday against the Kings, Dustin Brown and Jack Johnson would have won gold medals instead of silver. They had to be content with excellent efforts against Luongo's Vancouver Canucks, as Brown recorded his second career hat trick and set up another goal and Johnson contributed two key assists in the Kings' 8-3 romp. "They're definitely going to be in the playoffs and a possible opponent for us and they kind of had our number," Brown said after the Kings cut their magic number for clinching a playoff spot to four while ending a five-game winless streak against Vancouver.

The Kings are imploding, their discipline splintering as rapidly as opponents are outracing their flat-footed defense. They are tripping over the expectations set out for them and by themselves, entirely too fragile mentally and unwilling or unable to make the sacrifices they gladly made last season while stamping themselves as a team to watch. A good beginning Thursday turned into a horror show, a lifeless 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators that extended their losing streak to a season-worst five and left them winless halfway into an eight-game homestand that should have been their springboard to solidifying a playoff spot.

Any point is a good point at this stage of the season, the Kings agreed, but after playing well in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Blackhawks at a lively United Center on Wednesday, they realized there's still a larger point for them to make. The Blackhawks, though still not sure who their starting goaltender will be in the playoffs, clearly are an elite team and have matched San Jose atop the West with 93 points. They took 43 shots at Jonathan Quick and won after Dave Bolland pounced on a bad backhand pass by Brad Richardson at center ice and fed Patrick Sharp for a breakaway, a chance Sharp converted for his second goal of the game two minutes and eight seconds into sudden-death play.

From Calgary, Canada — Down to their last healthy bodies in their last game of 10 contests in 17 days in six cities, the Kings took the bruising and boisterous Flames to the final seconds Thursday. They lost to Calgary, 2-1, and relinquished the top spot in the Western Conference after the Sharks beat the Ducks, but they didn't lose their sense of pride and the conviction that they should have done better. And when was the last time that could be said about the Kings with a straight face?

The evolution of Dustin Brown continued Tuesday night, with another pest-like performance. This has become standard operating procedure for the forward. He began introducing himself around the NHL during the Kings' exhibition games but has proved to be more than a training-camp flash so far. Brown provided a key goal and a rash of physical play in a 3-1 Kings' victory over Edmonton at Staples Center on Tuesday. His goal broke a 1-1 tie, his hitting helped break the Oilers' will.

The Kings reached the halfway point of the season Saturday with an ugly victory that resembled the ups and downs of the preceding three months. More important, they secured the services of defenseman Jack Johnson for seven years with a contract extension that will kick in next season. Following their too-well established pattern, the Kings started forcefully but made a series of errors to turn what should have been a romp into a serious dose of anxiety. The Blue Jackets twice pulled to within a goal in the third period but the Kings held on for a 6-4 triumph that ended their season-worst losing streak at five games and halted a four-game losing streak on this homestand.