LOS ANGELES -- This was such foreign territory that it stung just that much more.

The Penguins had not given up more than four goals in a game before last night. Then they lost, 5-2, to the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.

The Penguins had not lost through their first seven road games. Then they fell to 7-1 away from Mellon Arena, missing a chance to set a club record for consecutive wins away from home.

They had not lost in regulation in 20 games under coach Dan Bylsma when they led after two periods. Then they squandered a 2-1 lead and watched the Kings score four times in the third period, including the second goal of the game by NHL leading scorer Anze Kopitar.

"It wasn't even a period; it was 13 minutes or something like that," center and captain Sidney Crosby said of his team's late-game lapse, when the Penguins gave up Kopitar's tying goal at 6:17, goals by Jarret Stoll and Michal Handzus 23 seconds apart and a capper by Dustin Brown at 17:30.

"That still doesn't make it any easier. You don't want that to happen. But they played better for that time span and we didn't."

One thing was all too familiar of late to the Penguins -- they failed to score on the power play.

They were 0-for-3 against the Kings -- including one late in the second period when they could have added to their one-goal lead and another in the third period when the game was tied, 3-3. They generated six shots on those three man-advantages.

That left them 0-for-17 over the past three games, which coincides with the time that the Penguins have played without top point man Sergei Gonchar (wrist injury) and forward Evgeni Malkin (shoulder injury).

"I thought tonight we did some good things on the power play," Crosby said. "We generated some pretty good chances and the puck didn't go in. That's an area that we've tried to focus on and make adjustments, but it was a matter of the puck not going in the net and not burying our chances."

The Penguins were missing one other component that was unexpected as late as the morning skate.

Right winger Tyler Kennedy was scratched. He had missed three games because of a groin injury before returning Tuesday in a 4-3 win at Anaheim. In the morning skate yesterday, he practiced with a reunited third line that also includes center Jordan Staal and left winger Matt Cooke, and coach Dan Bylsma said after that that he would use that effective line together in the Kings game.

Cooke, Staal and Kennedy have played well together dating to last season. Tuesday, Bylsma opted to move Staal up to the second line with wingers Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis. He was filling in for Malkin.

Against Los Angeles, Staal played with Cooke, with Chris Conner taking Kennedy's spot on the right side. Craig Adams moved up from his normal fourth-line spot to center Fedotenko and Dupuis.

Kopitar scored on the first shift of the game to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. He swept in on Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, pulling Fleury to his right, then put the puck into the open far half of the net 27 seconds into the first period.

The Penguins tied it, 1-1, 43 seconds later on a big slapshot by Staal from just inside the blue line.

Defenseman Brooks Orpik's shot from the top of the right circle clipped Penguins winger Chris Kunitz on its way to the net and the puck skittered past Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick's stick at 10:51 of the second period to give the Penguins their first and only lead, 2-1.

Kopitar scored his second goal of the game, on a wraparound, to tie it, 2-2. The Kings then got the two quick goals, Stoll on a wraparound and Handzus, on a rebound to pull ahead, 4-2.

Dustin Brown pushed the Los Angeles lead to 5-2 at 17:30 of the third period when he scored from a severe angle to Fleury's right just inside the near post.

"It's just frustrating to give up so many goals and lose like that," said Fleury, who more than once was drawn in one direction only to have a goal beat him on to the other side.

Bylsma said that was directly related to the Kings assuming the role the Penguins are used to playing -- spending a lot of time in the Penguins' offensive zone and making them scramble and make mistakes.

"No matter how well you play defensively, if you're forced to play [in your defensive zone] for extended periods of time, there's going to be loose pucks and there's going to be miscues and bouncing pucks that land on their sticks -- and they did that," Bylsma said. "That was largely a big part of the third period, when they took control of the game."

At 12-4 with 24 points, the Penguins still lead the NHL in wins and are tied with Colorado and their Saturday opponent, San Jose, atop the overall league standings.

That was of little consolation to a team that has gotten used to winning nearly every night.

"We are pretty bothered. I know I am," Adams said of the loss. "This team wants to win every night, expects to win every night. But we didn't play well enough to win."

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.