[0] KINGS DROP THIRD IN A ROW PALFFY BACK, BUT FANS UNHAPPY FLORIDA 4, KINGS 3.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

Ziggy Palffy is back. The rest of the Kings need to start showing up, too.

Palffy returned Thursday night after missing eight games with a torn right hamstring and had a goal and an assist in the Kings' 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers.

But when the Staples Center crowd of 14,137 wasn't cheering Palffy, they were booing the rest of the Kings, who now have dropped three in a row after convincing victories in St. Louis and Dallas.

It is one thing to lose to mighty Colorado, which is battling the Blues for the best record in hockey. But the Panthers don't even need two hands to count their victories, which now stands at eight.

Palffy got the Kings within a goal at 9:02 of the third period on a shot in front of Panthers' embattled goaltender Trevor Kidd. It was the Kings' 41st shot of the game, but it only cut the Florida lead to one.

Even then there was a feeling it would not be enough. The Kings took a season-high 49 shots, the fifth time this season they've had 40 or more in a game. They have lost them all.

Just moments earlier, Palffy had scored on a blast from the slot. But the goal was waved off because teammate Bryan Smolinski was whistled off for colliding with Kidd in the crease.

Instead of a tie game, the Kings were a man down and Viktor Kozlov beat Steve Passmore to make it 4-2 Panthers.

After consecutive painful losses in Detroit and Colorado, the Kings had a good opportunity to get back to winning Thursday night.

The Panthers are trying to regroup under new coach Duane Sutter after winning just five of their first 37 under Terry Murray. They were playing the second of back-to-back games after beating the Ducks on Wednesday.

And the Kings finally got back Palffy, who was second in the league with 21 goals and 46 points before missing eight games with a torn right hamstring.

Glen Murray also was just returning after missing six weeks due to surgery on his right knee.

Yet it was the Panthers who took the early lead on a goal by Olli Jokinen, who was the Kings' first draft pick three years ago.

Jokinen had been part of the trade that brought Palffy and Smolinski form the New York Islanders. He played poorly for a bad team then was shipped off to the Panthers. Jokinen's sluggish play continued this season and he became the target of verbal abuse by Terry Murray, who was fired last week along with his GM brother Brian.

Glen Murray, who played regular shifts against the Avalanche, scored the Kings' first goal with 3:47 left in the first period. He took a cross-ice pass from Palffy in front of Kidd. It was Murray's eighth goal of the year and first since scoring two against the Islanders on Nov. 16.

It stayed that way the 4:23 mark of the second period. Smolinski had the puck and found Mathieu Schneider alone in the high slot. For Schneider, it was his 11th goal of the season.

For the first time in almost a week, the Kings had momentum. Although Rob Blake had a tying goal with 32 seconds left against Detroit, the Red Wings' Steve Yzerman won it with four seconds remaining in a 2-1 loss.

Against Colorado, Passmore allowed four goals in the first 23 minutes and the Kings never got back in the game.

Thursday seemed to change. The Kings had 22 shots on Kidd in the second period alone. But it hardly mattered when Florida tied the game in the final minute of the period.

With thick traffic in front of the Kings' net, Ivan Novoseltsev poked the puck past Passmore as he was falling into the crease. Jere Karalahti fell on Novoseltsev and an angry Passmore slashed him with the goalie stick.

The Kings had a chance to regain the lead when Smolinski hit the left post at the buzzer. But it wasn't Smolinski's night.