LOS ANGELES — It’s getting to be a tired act. Los Angeles Kings fans are tired of it, the players are frustrated and head coach Jim Hiller is done with it. 

Five of the Kings’ last eight games have gone into overtime. In four of them, the Kings had a lead in the third period. And on Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks, the Kings had a 2-0 lead halfway through the second period, only to see it evaporate in a matter of two minutes. 

A scoreless third sent it to overtime, and a thrilling, but scoreless overtime forced a shootout. The shootout remained a struggle for the Kings as they lost 3-2. 

“We liked large parts of our game, but we didn’t deserve it because of those moments,” Hiller said. “We could have come in here and won the game, and I would have still been very disappointed with that stretch of hockey because that’s not the type of hockey that’s going to allow us to win or give us the best chance to win.”

Five overtimes in the last eight games, with four of those extra points going to divisional opponents. Not just any divisional opponents, but the ones the Kings are fighting with the most for playoff spots in the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks. 

Hiller and players have said multiple times over the last month that they thought the team had played well, but are not getting results. Now, they feel they’re past that point of thinking. 

“That’s not good enough,” Hiller said. “We’re there, no question. We’ve been there for a while, really.”

In Friday night’s affair against the Ducks, Joel Armia scored in his return to the lineup from injury to make it 2-0 halfway through the second period. To that point, the Kings had controlled the pace of play, and it seemed as though they were on their way to a much-needed regulation win. 

Then came the mistakes. 

“We turned the puck over way too often,” Hiller said. “We had a bad line change. We got caught on the wrong side of the neutral zone. Their defenseman jumped and activated. So the last seven, eight minutes of the second period, I think they had four or five on-man rushes, which generally are hard to get against us. So that was the issue with tonight’s game.”

And it’s not just this stretch of eight games that this has been a problem. The Kings are tied with the Golden Knights for most overtime losses in the league, with 12, and most games needing overtime with 19. 

Part of the issue as to why the Kings play so many overtime games is because of their defensive style of play. The Kings are allowing the fourth-fewest goals per game in the league at 2.72, but are simultaneously scoring the third-fewest goals per game at 2.57. 

With both teams suppressed on offense, games tend to require overtime. 

In terms of holding onto leads, Hiller believes it’s a lack of conviction.

“We’re still one foot on the gas, one on the brake, and we got ourselves caught in between, like I said, four or five times for odd-man rushes,” Hiller said. “We just can’t do that. We’re not going to outscore those mistakes.”

The Kings are now 19-16-12 on the season and are a point behind the Sharks for the final wild card spot. They’re in the midst of an 18-game lull where they’re 5-8-5. 

The Kings have 10 games left until they get a three-week break for the Olympics. It’s an opportunity for them to figure it out and build momentum heading into the break for a late-season push. 

“You can’t just stay sad or whatever,” Armia said. “You’ve just got to keep your head up and go and win the next game.”

Something has to change. Hiller said he’ll look at shuffling a couple of guys in the lineup, but firmly believes the guys in the locker room are the ones who can turn it around.

“I think the guys that are here are our strongest players,” Hiller said. “And some of those guys will be coming back, filtering in. You saw (Armia) do that. The young players, I think (Andre Lee) and (Taylor Ward) in particular, because they haven’t been with the team all year. They play really well. They play well. You can’t ask for anything more than that. 

“Some other guys up the lineup, those are the guys that got to deliver.”