LOS ANGELES -- Brent Burns has been better than Drew Doughty. Martin Jones has had the upper hand on Jonathan Quick.
And Joe Pavelski, well, he's outplaying everyone.
Which leaves Anze Kopitar very much looking into the mirror for the answer to how his Los Angeles Kings are going to start digging out of a 2-0 series deficit to the San Jose Sharks.
"I definitely have to be better," Kopitar said Saturday night in a very quiet Kings dressing room after his team dropped a second straight game at Staples Center. "I take pride in leading the team. For me I know this is just not good enough. You got to bring it a lot better on Monday."
This is not the Kopitar we've come to appreciate come playoff time. He has been clutch and then some in his team's two Cup triumphs.
Through two opening games we're awaiting his arrival.
Until that happens, the Kings will remain in offensive quicksand, limited to just one even strength goal in the series.
"For sure not enough shots from those guys," Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said of Kopitar's top line.
And he had plenty to say about San Jose's top line of Tomas Hertl, Joe Thornton and Mr. Pavelski, who now has three goals in two games.
"How many goals has that line scored in this series?" Sutter said. "I would say that would be the difference in this series right now, the Pavelski line, no question." Which is Sutter's way of also calling out his own top players to step it up.
History suggests these Kings will come back with a stronger effort. And if it happens, it must begin with a better net presence in front of Jones, the former Kings backup goalie is having too easy a time so far in this series.
"Yeah, we got to get a better job of getting traffic and getting guys to the net, fighting through box outs and getting to second- and third-chance opportunities," Kings winger Milan Lucic said. "Right now we're not doing a good enough job of it. We need to figure it out quick if we want to turn things around. It's not an ideal position to be in after having home-ice advantage.
"We got to stop playing with frustration and start playing with determination."
The Kings looked plenty frustrated on this night. And perhaps that's understandable when you consider that the Sharks have now won five of seven games this season between both teams, including both regular season and playoffs, and have gone a perfect 4-0-0 here at Staples Center on the year.
"Five-on-five, it's not nearly good enough," said Kopitar of his team's play in the series. They're doing their part and we're not doing our part. When we go on the plane tomorrow, we have to get in our head that we're going to play better. And we will play better."
A key in this series so far for the Sharks has been Pavelski scoring early in each of the games, the 1-0 lead both times allowing San Jose to relax and implement its game plan.
"Big goal again by our captain," Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said of Pavelski's marker 3:37 into the game. "Always a key to play with the lead, especially against L.A. With how well they defend and how big and heavy they are, you want to play out in front of them. Obviously critical to get the first one. We also knew they would push. For us to get the first goal really got us in the game."
What you didn't find, however, in the Sharks' dressing room after this game was any hooting and hollering. Just like after Game 1, this was a room full of players sounding far from satisfied, the lessons of that nightmare two years ago perhaps well heeled.
"It's only two games," said Sharks center Logan Couture, whose power-play goal Saturday night stood as the winner. "They're going to want to be better next game. We have to improve and get better to match that. ...
"They're a great team and they've done some great things in the past. We know it's only 2-0. You have to win four to win a series. There's a big challenge ahead of us."
Not nearly as big as the one that awaits the Kings.