LOS ANGELES — Needing to shake off the doldrums after a dreary 10-game stretch, including a just-completed 1-5 road trip, the Kings could not find their form in front of a less-than-enthused crowd on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena, losing to the Nashville Predators, 2-1.

All three goals came in the second period, when the teams traded scores.

Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist connected for the visitors, sandwiching the Kings’ only highlight on a Drew Doughty power-play goal.

Hours after Kings general manager Rob Blake gave Coach Todd McLellan a vote of confidence amid their slump, some of the same issues that have defined the recent slump showed up again. The Kings played better at even strength through the first half of the game, only for their special teams to give away that momentum.

The Kings took seven shots against Predators netminder Juuse Saros in the opening five minutes. Then they managed just one more over the next 15 minutes, falling short on two power-play opportunities while killing a pair for Nashville.

Receiving the start over All-Star Cam Talbot, David Rittich held Nashville scoreless with 11 first-period saves (among his 31 on the night), denying a good look on a wrist shot by Denis Gurianov, who got behind the Kings’ defense, and a couple minutes later keeping his cool as Juuso Parssinen whirled around to try a 360-degree spinning wrist shot.

“I thought Rittich played really well,” McLellan, “but at the other end of the rink, you’ve got to score goals to win. For only giving up two we should be able to win every night.”

The Kings’ lone attempt on goal after their early flurry came with less than two minutes remaining in the period. Leading goal scorer Trevor Moore found the puck in front of the Nashville net, but wristed it above the crossbar.

That’s how it went as passes, shots and connections missed their mark. When potentially dangerous attacks did materialize, the Kings were sufficiently rebuffed.

“The confidence is not sky high but it’s on us to get it back and moving in the right direction,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “It’s definitely frustrating now. We came out of the gates (this season) hot, scoring a lot, and now when you’re not it’s not the best feeling in the world.”

Outside of one power-play effort in the third period and a frantic final minute trying to beat Saros, who saved 33 of the 34 shots he faced, the Kings gave their fans more reasons to jeer than cheer in their first home match since Jan. 4. It was the opener of a four-game homestand.

“Juuse, I thought, bailed us out there until we got things going and kind of found our game,” Nashville’s O’Reilly said. “It was a tough game. Playoff style. It was heavy. Fast. That was a big win for us.”

Coming off a 4-1 loss to Las Vegas, Nashville (25-19-1, 51 points) entered the game with the third-most points in the NHL since mid-November. The Predators have just three regulation losses to the Kings in their last 27 meetings, taking 12 of the last 15 games between the two.

O’Reilly put the Predators on the board with a rare power-play goal against the strongest penalty-killing team in the NHL. The Kings had denied their opponents’ 22 man-advantage opportunities since the start of the new year until defenseman Roman Josi fired the puck at the net and O’Reilly tipped it in at 7:56 for his 17th goal of the season.

Related Articles

The Kings (21-13-8, 50 points) asserted themselves less than a minute later when Doughty’s one-timer slap shot zoomed past Saros’ glove hand, cashing in a much-needed power play after Nashville defenseman Ryan McDonagh was called for delay of game when he dislodged the net as the Kings threatened in the crease.

Doughty’s 10th goal of the season, assisted by Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe, followed his 150th goal for the Kings on Tuesday night in Dallas, inching the ironman closer to Rob Blake’s franchise record for a defenseman (161).

Rittich stayed strong between the pipes despite conceding a rebound goal to center Gustav Nyquist at 13:40 of the second period. The Swede’s 12th goal of the season put the visitors in front to stay.

“It’s just the lack of production offensively,” McLellan analyzed. “A lot of it is off the rush when we don’t look near as confident with the puck. We’re not as relaxed with it and it’s not going in the net. So the more that we fail to score the tighter we get. It’s just a vicious cycle.”