from Curtis Zupke of the LA Times,

The ingredients were there for the Kings to clean up with a victory at home.

They rolled out their fullest lineup in weeks, against a fellow last-place team that was missing key personnel. And they were looking to build off a tightly played divisional game from earlier in the week.

Yet those ingredients went wasted in a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Staples Center. In a contest between teams with a combined minus-66 goal differential going into Thursday, the Kings came up negative again. They suffered defensive breakdowns in the second period in getting swept by a combined 9-2 score in the season series against Ottawa, without second-leading scorer Matt Duchene.

“That’s awful,” Kings forward Kyle Clifford said. “That’s just embarrassing, to be honest. Not much more to say other than that.”

The Kings didn’t really make a formidable challenge in the third. Ottawa got 33 saves from goalie Anders Nilsson and, in a disconcerting reprise of the October meeting, simply had more desire.

“It starts from in here in the dressing room,” defenseman Jake Muzzin said. “We need guys with more energy.... It was kind of dead in here and our play showed.”

continued

The Kings are 17-25-3 37 points, last in the NHL.

Game highlights are below.