The puck went to Torey Krug, coming on fast in the left circle. Krug shot for the vacated side of the net, but somehow Quick managed knock the puck away. It hit the post, and was stopped by Quick on the bounce at 8:13.

LOS ANGELES – Perhaps the Bruins’ offensive futility could best be summed up by one play in the third period. With Milan Lucic bearing down on Jonathan Quick, the Kings goaltender was all the way on the right side of the net.

As Krug said, after the game, “Hell of a save.”

“Torey did everything right,” coach Claude Julien said. “It’s not like we’re not trying.


“The difference in the shot totals is them having three power plays and us having none. Otherwise it’s a pretty even game.”

It wasn’t the only time that Quick (31 saves) robbed the Bruins, but it did seem fitting for a team that has been able to score only infrequently of late. Boston has scored more than two goals in a game just once in its last 10 games, and was shut out Tuesday night in a 2-0 loss to Los Angeles at the Staples Center.

It was the Bruins’ second consecutive loss to start their four-game road trip.

“We’ve just got to find ways to score some goals here,” Julien said. “It’s hard to get mad at these guys when you see the effort being put in and the commitment and everything else. Just at the end of the night, you don’t get rewarded with a single point.

“We’ve got to stick with it here because we know it’s just a matter of time before things start turning around.”

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made 31 saves vs. the Bruins Tuesday. USA Today Sports

Julien resorted to shuffling his lines in the second period, reuniting Reilly Smith with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and separating Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson. And though they had some jump in the third period, in the second game of a back-to-back, they weren’t able to break through on the Kings.


Defensively, the Bruins were able to withstand a 1:25 5-on-3 in the first period – courtesy of a tripping penalty to Kevan Miller and a questionable delay of game to Bergeron – but they weren’t able to hold off the Kings all period.

Niklas Svedberg had been standing on his head in the early going, turning back a flurry of Kings shots. But he was beaten at 16:20 of the period by Tanner Pearson, who converted off a feed from Anze Kopitar after a Brayden McNabb shot.

“We got caught cheating on that goal,” Julien said. “And that’s the only goal that they needed.”

It started, again, with a turnover. The Bruins were then hemmed in their zone, eventually ending in the Pearson score.

Svedberg was nearly beaten by Pearson again, with the Kings winger ringing the puck off the post with 1:36 to go before the break in the first.

There was other frustration, too, for the Bruins. They were put on the penalty kill three times, but did not get a single power play chance in the game.

“We’re not getting any calls at all going our way,” Julien said. “It’s frustrating right now to see the amount of times we could have had a power play. Somehow they’re choosing not to call those. Everybody has to be accountable in this league.”


Brad Marchand was all alone as he maneuvered behind the net in the third period in Los Angeles Tuesday night. Getty Images

And the Bruins are holding themselves accountable, too. They know that despite the excellent effort, the chances that they’re getting, they’re not scoring enough. They’re not doing what it takes to win, especially against some of the best teams in the league.

The Kings, who got an empty-netter from Tyler Toffoli with 49.6 seconds left, certainly fall in that category.

“You never want to be in a position where you say, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’ll go your way eventually,’ ” Krug said. “You’ve just got to work through it, maintain that positive attitude and work through it. We have a group in here that’s not satisfied with the way things are going. A lot of teams might say that we came into LA and Anaheim, played two solid games, and they’re content with that. But we’re not.”