The Kings knew entering the season that navigating through the Pacific Division schedule was going to be tough for a rebuilding team.
Dallas and San Jose were Stanley Cup contenders and the Ducks the defending league champions.
But those teams haven't caused the Kings trouble.
It's Phoenix that has Kings coach Marc Crawford muttering to himself on the bench.
The Coyotes continued their dominance of the Kings with a 4-0 victory Monday at Staples Center.
The Kings have a .500 record against the top three teams in the division, but fell to 0-6 against Phoenix.
After Crawford and Kings players talked Sunday of "solving the hold" Phoenix has on them and "owing some" to the Coyotes, it took Phoenix just more than five minutes to make Monday's game look all too familiar.
After Michael Cammalleri was called for a holding penalty, Phoenix only needed 14 seconds of the power play for defenseman Ed Jovanovski to rocket a slap shot through Jason LaBarbera's legs.
Just over a minute later, Radim Vrbata stepped in front of a Dustin Brown pass at center ice, controlled the puck for a breakaway and went to his backhand to beat LaBarbera for a 2-0 Phoenix lead 5:06 into the game.
Anze Kopitar was back on the ice for Monday's game after missing the previous day's practice with flu-like symptoms.
Kings still look ugly against Coyotes - LA Daily News
Kings still look ugly against Coyotes (Daily News) 
