Jack Johnson

It's no secret that Los Angeles can be a tough sell for NHL free agents looking for a place to play. And that confounds defenseman Rob Scuderi. "For the life of me, I can't understand why," says Scuderi, who left Pittsburgh for Los Angeles, signing a four-year $13.6-million contract with the Kings after winning a Stanley Cup two seasons ago. "I could understand if the team was trending down. But I think the team is on its way up. It's a beautiful place to live. The facilities are top of the line.

The Kings' best players were among their worst players Monday, and that explains a lot about a slump that has deepened to seven losses in eight games. Their best players are the most talented, the ones who can get by on skill and sometimes try to do that without adding diligence or concentration. Cornerstone defensemen Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson have been guilty of that lately, making poor decisions and bad reads that have ranged from ill-advised to outright baffling. Their struggles have had a ripple effect that has been magnified since injuries took Willie Mitchell and Alexei Ponikarovsky out of the lineup.

POP MUSIC Jack Johnson The singer-songwriter returns to Santa Barbara ? the Hawaii native is a UCSB alumnus, class of '97 ? to play back-to-back shows of his breezy yet increasingly ambitious beach-folk. Johnson shares the bill Wednesday with G. Love & Special Sauce, whom the surfer often cites as one of his greatest influences, and ALO on Thursday. Santa Barbara Bowl , 1122 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara. 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. $64. (805) 962-7411. www.sbbowl.

Think you're a bad parent? Talk about "Dad Camp." MTV has "16 & Pregnant" and "Teen Mom." Now VH1 is giving it to the dads. The network's latest docu-series gives soon-to-be-fathers, the ones who'd rather hang with their buddies and skirt their rookie responsibilities, lessons in parenting, honesty and maturity. Wonder if Michael Lohan will make an appearance. (Monday) Can't keep up with which Disney films are in "the vault"? Talk about Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."

The Kings had no practice Monday, no charter flight to Vancouver for the seventh game of a playoff series they believed they could win until the final buzzer signaled the end of their 4-2 loss to the Canucks and their season. Their first postseason experience as a group and the first for the franchise since 2002 concluded Sunday in ways that were both disheartening and encouraging. The team that was 29-0-2 this season when leading after two periods lost Games 4 and 6 after squandering third-period leads at home.

Terry Murray's decision to take Randy Jones out of the lineup and pair Peter Harrold with Jack Johnson worked out well for the Kings in Game 2, and the Kings' coach stuck with the new configuration for Game 3. That was fine with Johnson. "I enjoy playing with Peter a lot. He's a quick player. Skating is one of his strengths," Johnson said. "I always enjoy having a partner that skates well, and I think he handles the puck well. "He's very reliable. I always know where he's going to be and I trust him. In any partnership, trust is the biggest thing.

In a few seconds' time Jack Johnson went from playoff newcomer to impact player, putting the oomph in a power play that lifted the Kings to even footing with the Vancouver Canucks before their first-round playoff series resumes Monday at Staples Center. Johnson was a few strides in from the blue line when he took a pass from Michal Handzus, stationed down low. Johnson faked a shot but passed ahead and to his left to Drew Doughty, who made a cross-ice relay to Anze Kopitar. The Slovenian center's first shot was blocked, but he retrieved the rebound and flicked it past goaltender Roberto Luongo 7 minutes and 28 seconds into overtime for a 3-2 victory Saturday that told the world the Kings' youth, expected to be a weakness, might be their greatest strength.

Defenseman Jack Johnson of the Kings said he and his U.S. teammates have been scrambling to reschedule their flights out of Vancouver because they were booked to leave town before Sunday's gold-medal game against Canada. "They scheduled all the Americans to fly out Sunday morning. Whoever is in charge of this scheduled us to fly out tomorrow morning, and I think the Russians and Swedes are supposed to fly out on Monday," Johnson said. "I'm glad we get to change that." The NHL Players Assn.

When the NHL season resumes next week, there just might be some bragging done by the American Olympians in the Kings' and Ducks' locker rooms after Team USA's 5-3 victory over Canada on Sunday in their final preliminary game of the Olympic hockey tournament. The only Southern California player whose name turned up on the score sheet in a positive fashion was Bobby Ryan of the Ducks, who earned an assist on the Chris Drury goal that gave the Americans a 3-2 lead at 16:46 of the second period.

Kings defenseman Jack Johnson returned to Los Angeles about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, his whirlwind trip to Vancouver for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics leaving him both exhausted and inspired. "It was a great experience. Probably the coolest thing I've ever done," said Johnson, the first American NHL player to take part in the opening ceremony in Winter Olympics history. "It was worth every minute of it to get there. It was everything I thought it would be. And more."