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Sutter says Kings’ power play is “awful”

Darryl Sutter

Los Angeles Kings’ coach Darryl Sutter, center, looks on from the bench as Dustin Penner, from left, Dustin Brown and Justin Williams are seated in front during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

AP

Man advantage? More like man disadvantage for the Kings, am I right?

/rimshot

Los Angeles is mired in a horrible power play funk, converting just one of its last 24 chances over the last seven games. That’s pushed them into a tie for the seventh-worst PP in the league (15.4 percent, with Minnesota) -- a glaring issue given the team doesn’t score very well at even strength.

Head coach Darryl Sutter has seen enough. On Thursday, he let his feelings be known.

“Power play has been awful,” he told Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider. “Even last night. You talk about a (good) 60-minute game [against Calgary]. It wasn’t a 60-minute game. In the second period, we had two power plays that changed the momentum of the game.

“We had to play our fourth line, back-to-back shifts, after both power plays to get the momentum back.’’

Ah yes, the momentum-killing power play. To give you an idea of what that feels like, reference the official NHL play-by-play after Calgary’s Clay Wilson took a two-minute interference penalty at 12:31 of the second period.

Calgary won a faceoff, then play was whistled dead for offside. Calgary won another faceoff, then play went offside again. Then the Kings won a faceoff....and by that point, 1:09 of their man advantage had expired. Good times!

All told, the Kings had more power play opportunities against Calgary (four) than power play shots on goal (three).

Unfortunately for L.A., things don’t look to be getting any rosier on the anemic PP front. Reports suggest Jeff Carter has suffered an ankle injury and is unlikely to play Friday against Edmonton.