LOS ANGELES -- The Penguins are faster than the Kings.
They also have more experience, and more talent.
And a whole lot more points in the overall standings.
But none of that mattered, at least on this night.
That's why the Penguins have a few other things, too: Specifically, a 2-1 defeat by Los Angeles Wednesday night at Staples Center and their first four-game losing streak of the season.
Instead of trying to catch Washington for first place in the Metropolitan Division, they probably should be more focused on holding off the handful of Metro teams that could overtake them in the near future if they don't begin to win a game occasionally.
"We know that points are important, and we want to be playing well at this time of year," Sidney Crosby said. "Obviously, you don't want to drop four in a row, but that's the reality we face."
This was the Penguins' first game since they bolstered their lineup at the trade deadline Monday by acquiring forwards Patrick Marleau, Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues.
The Kings, conversely, had stripped down their roster and sold off parts like Tyler Toffoli, Alec Martinez, Kyle Clifford and Jack Campbell as the deadline neared. Los Angeles was a bad team before those moves and figured to be a lot worse -- at least in the short term -- after them.
The Penguins, though, insisted that they were prepared for a strong effort by the Kings, even though most of the players in their lineup aren't household names, even in their own households.
"We knew this team was going to play hard," Mike Sullivan said. "It wasn't a case where our guys went out and played a lackadaisical game. I thought we had a pretty solid team game. We just didn't score."
Indeed, the Penguins seemed satisfied with the offense they generated, despite managing to get just one of 36 shots past someone named Calvin Petersen. Never mind that he's pulling down an NHL paycheck only because Campbell was traded, and wouldn't get any support in the Vezina Trophy balloting even if his favorite grandma had a vote.
Petersen only had to make a handful of quality saves and also caught a few breaks, as the Penguins hit at least one crossbar and a post.
"It just didn't seem to want to go in," Crosby said.
He had first-hand knowledge of that, because Crosby appeared to tie the game, 1-1, at 18:24 of the opening period. A puck that went off his skate was ruled on the ice to be a goal, but replays showed conclusively that it hit the crossbar and never crossed the goal line.
"I saw the signal for a goal (from the referee) and I thought the light went on," Crosby said. "I saw some guys lift their hands."
Turns out those guys might just have been practicing to surrender to their fate a couple of hours later, after the Penguins controlled play for much of the final two periods but got nothing to show for it.
"I thought we actually played pretty well for a lot of the night," Sullivan said. "I thought we had a lot of good looks. We had a lot of (offensive-)zone time. We had a lot of opportunities."
Of course, they could have made Petersen's job a little more challenging if they'd been able to generate a total of more than three shots on goal during their three power plays.
Had they actually gotten a goal out of one of those -- or perhaps if they'd prevented Los Angeles from scoring on the first of its two opportunities with the extra man -- they wouldn't be stuck in their longest skid of the season.
"For me, the difference in the game is the special teams," Sullivan said.
The Penguins are 0-for-9 with the man-advantage during their past four games, which is part of the reason they've manufactured only a half-dozen goals during that span. Averaging 1.5 goals per game is no way to surge through the standings.
Not upward, anyway.
Nonetheless, the Penguins feel they are creating enough scoring opportunities, but simply not capitalizing on them.
"I thought the last two games, we had tons of chances," Crosby said. "Hopefully, we can maybe get one on the power play, or get a lead and get some confidence that way. It's different when you're chasing the game a bit."
The Penguins have done a lot of that lately. They've had a lead for a total of six minutes, three seconds during the past four games, all of it during what became a 5-3 loss in Washington Sunday.
"Obviously, it's not an ideal situation," said Bryan Rust, who steered an Evgeni Malkin feed past Petersen at 6:42 of the third period for the Penguins' only goal. "But it's something we don't feel uncomfortable doing. We have a lot of character in here. We can come back in games."
This time, they couldn't come back from a 2-0 deficit that arose after Blake Lizotte tipped in a Sean Walker shot during a power play at 2:34 of the opening period:
Then Trevor Lewis scored what proved to be the game-winner at 19:28 of the second, when he drove to the net and, after defenseman Jack Johnson over-skated him, punched his own rebound past Tristan Jarry:
Although none of the Penguins' newcomers made it onto the score sheet in their debuts, Sullivan professed to be pleased with what he saw of them.
"I thought they were really good," he said. "I thought all three of them had a positive impact on the game."
Sheary, who played alongside Crosby and Jason Zucker on the top line, had one shot in 18:14 of ice time. Marleau was with Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev and had one shot in 14:29, while Rodrigues won four of five faceoffs in 7:48 while centering Dominik Simon and Sam Lafferty and killing penalties.
All could play significant roles in the 20 games the Penguins have remaining, as the team tries to recapture the form that had it alone atop the Metropolitan not so long ago.
"I feel like we probably deserved a little better the last few games," Crosby said. "But you don't get points for that. We have to find ways to win games."
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