KINGS LOOKING LIKE THEY'VE HIT THE WALL LOSS TO DUCKS LEAVES PLAYERS ANGRY, WORRIED DUCKS 6, KINGS 2.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

Athletes and coaches are fond of saying that a regular season is like a marathon, not a sprint. Which is good and all, except that at the moment, the Kings are sitting by the side of the road, gasping for breath.

The Kings' optimism seems to be fading fast, and Saturday didn't help, since the Kings were dominated in almost every facet of the game and lost to the Mighty Ducks 6-2 in front of 18,118 at Staples Center.

With 28 games left, and the Kings still firmly in playoff contention, it might be too early to talk about panic time. But they also have won just three of their last 11 games and know something is amiss.

``We're in trouble,'' Kings forward Sean Avery said. ``We're in big trouble here. If we don't turn this thing around, it's going to be the third year in a row where nobody is going to any playoff games.

``We're in big trouble here. We've got to look in the mirror, look at ourselves. Every guy has to look at himself. Everybody has to do what he does. I've got to hit, skate and play a dirty game.

``We certainly can't get outplayed by ... (Ducks forward Chris) Kunitz and some of these guys. What, are we afraid of that team? If you look at the big picture, we're not going to be around for (the playoffs).''

It seems the Ducks didn't do much to earn Avery's respect Saturday. Even though the Kings essentially rolled over against a motivated opponent, the Ducks nonetheless put forth an impressive showing.

Faced with an atypical 1 p.m. game time, the Ducks came ready to play and the Kings looked as though they had hit the snooze button a few times. The Ducks scored on four of their first five power-play chances and scored six consecutive goals after falling behind 1-0 two minutes into the game.

Ducks rookie Corey Perry, with just one goal in 23 games entering Saturday, scored twice. Fellow rookie Ryan Getzlaf and the aforementioned Kunitz also scored for the Ducks, who led 6-1 after two periods.

``Our passes paid off and when we had chances, we put it in the net. There's no real recipe,'' Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer said.

Familiar breakdowns doomed the Kings. They were terrible on the penalty kill, had numerous defensive breakdowns that the Ducks deftly turned into goals, and had shaky goaltending. Kings goalie Mathieu Garon was pulled in the second period, after he allowed five goals on 21 shots.

The Kings' goals both came from Michael Cammalleri, and both on the power play.

``We can't be saying, 'Oh, it's a long season,' '' Kings captain Mattias Norstrom said. ``That was embarrassing, to walk off the ice like that. We were in our building and we embarrassed ourselves.

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

The Mighty Ducks' Scott Niedermayer (27) fights for the puck with the Kings' Dustin Brown.

Edna T. Simpson/Daily News