Coming off a 9-3 loss in which they turned in their most porous performance in 16 years, the Kings had two days to travel home and lick their wounds as they prepared to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

They split a back-to-back set as center Blake Lizotte, who came back from injury a game earlier, scored twice against Chicago on Tuesday. The Kings (39-27-10) also got a lift from the return of veteran winger Dustin Brown in a 5-2 win over the Blackhawks. But no morale boost was going to stave off the Colorado Avalanche, whose deluge of nine combined points from center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar inundated the Kings.

Instead, it was an absence that was highlighted further by the Kings’ struggles, that of top defenseman Drew Doughty. As of Saturday, Doughty will have missed twice as many games this season as he did in his entire career prior, a baker’s dozen of NHL campaigns. He will be sidelined for the rest of the regular season and playoffs after undergoing wrist surgery.

“It’s not an ‘oh what just happened’ moment, but it is a moment that now there’s some closure to it and we’re not going to see him until training camp next year, and there’s no hope of him coming back. The cavalry’s not coming there,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

“It would have been nice to have him, we could have really used his skills all over the ice, but also his veteran presence. He plays 27, 28 minutes a night, our defensive game isn’t where it needs to be and that’s his specialty. We have missed him and we will miss him.”

While this is Doughty’s third string of games in the pressbox this season, the finality of his prognosis combined with injuries to his partner Mikey Anderson, fellow right defenseman Sean Walker and another veteran rearguard, Alex Edler, have caught up with the Kings. They have lost six of their last nine games, including three losses with six goals allowed or more. Colorado’s romp, which also set its franchise record for wins in a season, represented the Kings’ worst defensive performance since Jan. 14, 2006, when they were trampled by the Buffalo Sabres 10-1.

“We’re still very much in the hunt, obviously. Definitely not the performance that we wanted tonight, especially this time of the year,” center Anze Kopitar said.

The Kings’ record sans Doughty slipped to 17-15-5. That barely kept their noses above a .500 points percentage. With Doughty in the lineup, they went 22-12-5 for a much healthier .628 points percentage.

Kopitar also said that the Kings did not look like a playoff team on Wednesday and that their final six games would have to be substantially better. They will face six opponents –– Columbus, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago and the Ducks twice –– currently on the outside of the playoff picture. Only Vancouver has a remotely realistic chance to qualify for the postseason.

However, the Kings lost ground on both second-place Edmonton and fourth-place Vegas on Thursday when both teams earned convincing victories. They each have one game in hand on the Kings, and a Vegas surge could knock the Kings into the wild-card race, where they currently sit a point behind both Nashville and Dallas.

The Kings’ next challenge will be Columbus (35-33-6) in the second of two meetings this season. In their previous matchup on March 4, the Blue Jackets built a 3-1 lead off a spurt of three goals in 46 seconds. But it was the sticktoitiveness of the Kings that prevailed, 4-3, after winger Viktor Arvidsson capped off his hat trick with an overtime game-winner.

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Winger Patrik Laine paces the Blue Jackets in goals (26) and points (56) despite missing 19 games earlier this season. Jake Voracek, who began his career in Columbus but flourished in Philadelphia, returned to the team via trade. He ranks second on the roster in scoring (54 points) and leads the club in assists with 49.

The Blue Jackets have won three of their last four matches, but all those victories came against non-playoff teams. They had previously reeled off a winless streak of seven games. Forward Kent Johnson, the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft, made his NHL debut on Wednesday in a 5-1 win over Montreal.

Columbus at Kings

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/Radio: Bally Sports West/iHeartRadio