Foul me once, shame on you. Foul me five times ... well, shame on me.

The Blues' inability to score power-play goals has become more than just a quirky annoyance. Essentially, it is costing them games. The Blues surrendered a power-play goal and then went 0 for five on their own power play while losing 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday at Scottrade Center.

One of the first promises new coach Ken Hitchcock made when he arrived was a fix for the power play. Sure enough, the unit scored a goal in its first opportunity under Hitchcock. Since, they have two goals in 23 power-play opportunities.

For the season, the Blues convert power plays just slightly more frequently and efficiently than coal converts to diamonds. The Blues have six power-play goals in 64 opportunities.

Vladimir Sobotka, who had a third-period goal to tie the score, saw a bigger picture.

"We had too many mistakes tonight," he said. "It cost us two points and it can't happen. We have to work harder. We have to block some shots and work hard. These two points were really important for us."

The power outage does not bode well for a team that will play in Pittsburgh tonight, carrying a mark of 0-3-1 in its last four road games. The Penguins are seventh in the league in scoring, averaging 2.9 goals a game. The Blues are averaging 2.5 goals.

While the loss was the first in regulation under Hitchcock, the Blues also have tied and lost in shootouts twice. In both games, they were knotted 2-2.

"When you're scoring two goals a game, you're living on a fine line," Hitchcock said. "We've been on the right side of it for the most part, but we're going to have to get extending ourselves a little bit better if we expect to win."

The Blues wasted little time getting an upper hand on the Kings. T.J. Oshie got a turnover and got the puck to Alex Steen in front. Steen ripped it past goaltender Jonathan Bernier for a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the evening.

The goal was a team-leading eighth for Steen, who shares the team lead in scoring with Oshie at 14 points. Oshie was sent into the boards head first by defenseman Drew Doughty in the game's waning moments. But Hitchcock said Oshie was fine after the game.

The line of David Backes, Oshie and Steen has scored seven of the team's last 13 goals and accounted for 13 points in the last five games.

The Blues had a good opportunity to pile on moments later when a physical shift by Ryan Reaves drew a penalty from Ethan Moreau. Problem is, you can lead the Blues to a power play, but you just can't make them score. Despite outstanding possession time in the Kings' zone, the league's 30th-ranked power play came up empty.

At that point, things tightened up considerably, with neither team able to get a consistent forecheck going. Meanwhile, referees doled out 14 penalties during the night, seven to each team.

With 1:56 to play in the first, LA's Kyle Clifford went off for hooking. Again, the Blues' catatonic power play was unable to register a pulse. You had to expect a period-ending penalty kill might give the Kings a lift. But it was the Blues who came out flying in the second and, if not for a spectacular save by Bernier, they would have added to the lead.

Less than two minutes into the frame, the Backes line was at it again, as Steen got off an uncontested shot from the slot. Bernier made the save and somehow recovered quickly enough to stop Backes point-blank on the rebound. A minute later, the Blues got a third power play. But, despite lots of puck control, they failed to cash in. Those missed opportunities began to loom large.

"They did a good job in desperation blocking shots," Backes said. "We kind of had them down and out and they were finding a way to get a piece of it, so we couldn't really bury it. But again, we need to find a way to beat that and make sure we're getting two points on nights like this."

The Kings found a burial plot moments later. Netminder Jaroslav Halak made an outstanding glove save to deny Jack Johnson early on an LA power play. But with six seconds remaining in the man-advantage, Anze Kopitar jumped on a misguided pass by Barret Jackman and beat Halak to tie the score 1-1. The goal with 12:24 to play was the 10th for Kopitar, who has emerged as one of the game's premier players.

Both teams got more power-play chances before the period ended. The last series came with 3:01 to play, when Blues forward Chris Porter went off for cross-checking. The Blues then went back on the power play when Clifford took another penalty with 59 seconds to play.

Didn't matter. Still no diamonds.

With 15:18 remaining in the third period, the Blues fell behind 2-1 on a giveaway. Jackman had the puck hop over his stick and Andrei Loktionov intercepted. He fed Mike Richards for a one-timer and the Kings led 2-1. The goal was the ninth for Richards.

Afterward, Jackman owned up to a tough night. "The first one I made a bad read with good players on the ice," he said. "I thought the play was in the middle and obviously it wasn't. They jumped on it and scored. The second one, the puck bounced over my stick and went the wrong way and I couldn't recover."

Sobotka tied the score with 7:32 to play, his second goal of the season. Matt D'Agostini made the play, charging down the wing, then dropping to Sobotka, who banged it in to make it 2-2. But before that goal could be thoroughly announced, the Kings answered.

Defenseman Willie Mitchell let fly from the point with traffic in front. The puck found the back of the net and the Kings re-established a one-goal lead. The Blues pulled Halak in the waning moments but couldn't rebound. Hitchcock agrees the special-teams battle is an issue right now, but he was more concerned with the overall play in critical segments.

"I think the last two games, we've kind of come off it a little bit in the third periods," Hitchcock said. "It was frustrating to battle back and like we did and then give it up so quickly."