Kings 4, Washington 1.

By J.P. Hoornstra on February 12, 2011 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Alex Ovechkin - who else - scored on the Capitals' first shot of the game. That was the extent of the damage, and after a sluggish first period, it was all Kings.

Rather than squeak out a victory by the skin of their teeth, the Kings scored four unanswered goals and denied the same quality chances on the other end. Anze Kopitar tied the game at 1 in the second period by scoring his first goal since Jan. 15, putting back the rebound of a Wayne Simmonds shot from close range.

Andrei Loktionov put back a rebound at the end of a 2-on-1 rush with Kyle Clifford at 3:36 of the third period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. Michal Handzus whacked in another loose puck in Semyon Varlamov's crease at 12:28 of the third, and Jarret Stoll flew up the right wing for a much prettier goal at 13:56.

Jonathan Bernier made 22 saves, buckling down after Ovechkin's goal 66 seconds into the game.

Going back to Dec. 27, when the Kings first slipped into a 2-10 coma, they had only beaten one opponent by three or more goals (a 5-2 win over Edmonton on Jan. 15). Since Jan. 22, they're 6-0-2 and now have a decisive win over a good team that was booed heartily by the announced crowd of 18,398 at the Verizon Center.

A few more notes:

• The new-look "first" (Handzus-Kopitar-Simmonds) and "third" (Clifford-Loktionov-Brown) lines didn't give Terry Murray much of a reason to be broken up. Loktionov led all players with five shots on goal, went 4-3 in the faceoff circle, and generally looked more comfortable playing his natural center position (he had been at left wing almost exclusively). Being paired with a couple bulldozers in Simmonds and Handzus seemed to draw Kopitar closer to the net - the desired effect - most noticeably on the line's two goals.

• It helped that Capitals couldn't muster much defensive pressure after the first period, but apparently four is the most goals Washington has allowed in its last 11 games. Coincidentally, a steady stream of four-letter words seemed to be on the tip of Bruce Boudreau's tongue late in the game.

• Matt Greene blocked five shots, and started the rush that led to Loktionov's goal with a stellar two-line pass to Clifford.

• In general, it was a good game for Kings' defensemen in the area of puck recovery. That's how you hold the Capitals to 23 shots on goal, one off their season low.

• Six hits for Dustin Brown, $300 for Children's Hospital Los Angeles.