[0] KINGS' HOMESTAND STARTS POORLY CALGARY 3, KINGS 0.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

The Kings' recent upturn in fortune began nearly three weeks ago with a shutout of Calgary, so the Flames' arrival for the start of a crucial eight- game homestand seemed to be a positive omen.

But the momentum of a strong road trip died on the Staples Center ice Thursday night, as the Kings sputtered on offense in a 3-0 loss to the Flames in front of a home crowd of 13,616.

The Kings, who had won five of their past seven games and three of four on their recent trip, returned home flat offensively and continued their recent woes on the power play by failing to score on six opportunities. The Kings have now gone scoreless on their last 11 attempts with a man advantage.

Kings goalkeeper Jamie Storr lost his second consecutive start but made just one mistake, when he could not control Scott Thomas' slap shot late in the second period.

Calgary's second goal came with four minutes left in the third period, three seconds after another Kings power-play failure. Mathieu Schneider's pass was taken by the Flames' Cory Stillman, who left a drop pass for Dave Lowry. Lowry then slapped the puck past Storr.

Stillman then scored an empty-net goal with 1:54 left.

Storr, who seemed to cement his place as the Kings' starting goalie during the Kings' strong run this month, stopped 22 of 24 shots but received little offensive support for much of the game.

Calgary goalie Fred Brathwaite, who sat on the bench during the teams' last meeting, a 5-0 Kings victory on Jan. 6, didn't get much more help but stopped all 20 shots he faced.

Calgary showed little spark at either end until late in the second period, when the Kings' Stu Grimson was whistled for roughing 16:15 into the period.

Less than a minute later, Morris, a Calgary defenseman, picked up a loose puck just inside the blue line and fired a slap shot at Storr, who had a clear look at the shot and made the stop but let the puck trickle through his pads and into the net.

The Kings had their best scoring chance of the period less than a minute later, when Ziggy Palffy fed Brian Smolinski with a nice pass on a two-on-one break, but Smolinski shot wide left. The Kings finished the period with just six shots on goal.

The Kings' pedestrian second-period play came as a surprise after a strong first 15 minutes of the first period, when they thwarted two Calgary power plays and held the Flames to just seven shots in the period.

After a failed Calgary power play, the Kings showed some brief spark early in the third period.

Six minutes into the period, Brathwaite survived a flurry in front of his net and went on the defensive again less than 30 seconds later, when Calgary's Jeff Shantz was called for tripping. The Kings passed the puck well on the power play and had two good scoring chances but were turned away both times by Brathwaite.