LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE ON POWER PLAY ATTRITION CATCHES UP WITH KINGS, WHO LOSE GOALIE GARON TO INJURY TAMPA BAY 4, KINGS 1.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

No lightning strikes, falling trees or other acts of nature. Craig Conroy somehow made it to Tuesday night's opening faceoff unscathed, which put him in the distinct minority among the Kings' top scorers.

What were the Kings missing Tuesday? Only three of their top four scorers: Pavol Demitra, Alexander Frolov and Lubomir Visnovsky, who had combined for 50 of the 159 goals the Kings had scored this season. Then, as only things can for the Kings, things managed to get worse once the game started.

In a development that surprised nobody who has followed the team this season, the Kings lost goaltender Mathieu Garon to a bruised shoulder after the first period. Matters didn't improve much from there, as the Kings lost 4-1 to the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning before a crowd of 17,017 at Staples Center.

Injuries have become a way of life for the Kings, who also have been without Eric Belanger, Aaron Miller and Jeremy Roenick, and it seems that the attrition is catching up with the Kings.

Tampa Bay entered the game with losses in three of its past four games and the Lightning had failed to score a power-play goal in 2006, with an 0-for-40 skid that dated back to Dec. 26.

But the Lightning scored two power-play goals on its first three chances Tuesday, and Ruslan Fetotenko added a goal late in the second period to give Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead.

By that point, Jason LaBarbera had been pressed into duty. Garon played the entire first period and did not appear to be in distress at any point, but was replaced by LaBarbera to start the second period.

It has been a rough week for Garon, who was pulled in the first period of the Kings' 10-1 loss to Buffalo on Saturday and has struggled of late after establishing himself as the Kings' top goaltender.

Tuesday's first period wasn't so kind to Garon either, as he allowed an unusual soft goal.

With the way things have been going for the Kings recently, it rated as only a mild surprise when the Lightning broke its string of power-play futility seven minutes into the first period.

Brad Richards faked a shot from the slot, then passed to Martin St. Louis, who was stationed to the side of the net. St. Louis flipped a shot toward the net, and the puck deflected off the back of Garon and into the net to break an eight-game power-play drought for the Lightning.

The Kings couldn't accomplish much, and it seemed that the highlight of the period would be the disco-dance routine of Roenick, broadcast on the video screen.

But, with 4:04 left in the period, Dustin Brown came through with a real highlight when he stationed himself in front of the net and knocked in the rebound of a shot by Sean Avery.

The goal served as something of a reward for Brown, who had played well of late and earned a promotion to the Kings' top line with the injuries to Frolov and Demitra.

Unfortunately for the Kings, however, further highlights were few and far between.

The Kings recorded only three shots on goal in the second period and LaBarbera, without much defensive support, allowed two goals, to Vincent Lecavalier and Fedotenko, to put the Kings down 3-1. Lecavalier's goal came with Tampa Bay on a 5-on-3 power play after Sean Avery's high-sticking double minor.

Early in the third period, the Kings had an excellent chance to get back in the game when Avery was taken down by Pavel Kubina and was awarded a penalty shot, but John Grahame easily made the save.

Tampa Bay's Norman Milley capped the scoring with his first NHL goal - into an empty net with 1:10 remaining.

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) The Kings' Michael Cammalleri tries to catch up to the puck during the first period Tuesday against Tampa Bay.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer