[0] KINGS TAKE ROYAL BEATING, SLIDE CONTINUES, THIS TIME TO LOWLY BLACKHAWKS : CHICAGO 8, KINGS 4.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

It's too bad every last person didn't get one of those juicy, chocolate-dipped strawberries they were serving in some of the suites and in the press box. Then they would have at least gotten something appetizing for the big bucks of venturing to pricey Staples Center.

They were rich, tempting to the palate, aesthetically pleasing and, above all, prepared impeccably.

They were everything the Kings were not.

For the third time in five days the Kings were humiliated. Jean-Pierre Dumont scored twice as the lowly Chicago Blackhawks blasted the Kings 8-4 before a sellout crowd of 18,118 Saturday night.

Afterward, Kings coach Andy Murray held a team meeting in which he stressed accountability, singled out players for poor play and said lineup changes are next.

``Everything that could go wrong in a game went wrong for us, but you create your own environment,'' Murray said. ``We created ours with turnovers and poor execution in our game plan.

``Ultimately, you need your leaders to pull you through a situation like this. What you're dealing with now is somewhat of a question in the belief system, and the belief in themselves, probably, at this point.''

For the first time this season the Kings (16-11-6) lost three in a row, though that's not the problem. The reason for the meetings and the contemplated changes are the results: A 7-1 loss at New Jersey, an 8-3 loss at the New York Rangers and then the debacle against the Blackhawks.

Not only have the Kings been outscored 23-8, but they've allowed 13 first-period goals in the process.

``You would like to think you hit rock bottom,'' Murray said. ``I thought we hit rock bottom after New Jersey. It's a pretty sick feeling.''

Now, the Kings, the darlings of the NHL the first two months, could find themselves last in the Pacific Division if the Mighty Ducks beat Detroit tonight.

``I think it's all mental right now,'' Kings winger Luc Robitaille said. ``Everybody wants to make the right play, get a steal in the middle, instead of playing our simple game.''

More distressing for the Kings is they had two days of meetings and hard practices to stop the free fall. Murray tried to stop the ``same ol' Kings'' mentality from sinking in during a 65-minute team meeting Thursday, including a gruesome viewing of all 15 goals on videotape. That was followed by a rigorous, up-tempo practice Friday.

It did nothing to stem the downward spiral that threatens to rip apart all the good things the Kings did during the first 30 games of the Murray era.

Instead, the Kings played fundamentally poor hockey. They chased in their own zone, made ill-advised cross-ice passes, lacked hustle on the backcheck and were beaten to loose pucks.

The Kings committed silly penalties, fell behind early, at times showed disinterest and demonstrated none of the fire and desperation some players talked about the previous day. They also allowed four power play goals.

Less than six minutes in, the Blackhawks led 3-1. Less than nine minutes into the second period the Kings accomplished another dubious feat. For the third consecutive game, their starting goalie was pulled, this time Stephane Fiset.

``At the beginning, I didn't make the big save to keep the team in the game,'' said Fiset, pulled after the Blackhawks' sixth goal in less than 30 minutes. ``We don't want to live that video again, those meetings again. We've been through that the last few days, but we have no choice here.''

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PHOTO (color) Kings goalie Stephane Fiset prepares to fall on the puck as Rob Blake restrains Chicago's Ed Olczyk.

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press