Game 50: Kings 5, Capitals 4

Wait? What's this? The Kings are above .500? In February? And against the Caps? Where am I, and whose pajamas am  I wearing?

The Kings are winners of five of their last six games, and are averaging four goals a game. Couple that with a red-hot goaltender in Jonny Quick, and you can see where I'm heading. The Kings are playing their best hockey of the season right now.

Do you what makes Jason LaBarbera, Erik Ersberg and Mathieu Garon better than Quick? All of them stymied Alexander Ovechkin, keeping him without a goal against the Kings in his career. The goalless streak was halted on this, the fifth day of February, 2009, when Ovie scored his first (!) goal against the Kings. Way to go, Quick... /sarcasm.

Just 15 seconds into the game, it looked as if the Kings were going to be playing from behind all game. But Anze Kopitar scored a power play goal, and L.A. reeled off three unanswered goals against the Caps, who had been 21-3-1 at home this season. Only San Jose has a better home record. Seriously, how big was this win at the Verizon Center? Only three other teams have beaten the Caps at home.

Kopitar ended up with 2 goals and an assist. How important is the Slovenian? The Kings are 10-1-1 with Kopi scores a goal. The top line of Calder, Brown and Stoll continues to be productive, with 5 points between them on Thursday. All three touched the puck on Calder's game-winner. And congratulations goes to Patrick O'Sullivan, who scored his 100th NHL point.

Next up are the New Jersey Devils, another team at the top of their conference in the midst of 8-2-0 treak in their last ten games, tops on the NHL. Even though they miss their All-World goaltender Marty Brodeur, they're been playing lights-out hockey. Hopefully the Kings can come in and surprise them as they did against the Capitals. One thing L.A. has going for them, as that the game is the second of a back-to-back game

• AP: Kings beat Capitals 5-4 despite Ovechkin’s 200th

“We didn’t play well for two periods, and they just used our mistakes,” Alexander Ovechkin said, his voice a low monotone. “I don’t want to talk about my personal stats today.”

• Canadian Press: Ovechkin joins elite company with 200th goal, but Caps lose

Los Angeles, which entered the night two points out of last place in the Western Conference, has won five of six games. The Southeast Division-leading Capitals, meanwhile, had their three-game winning streak ended.

• Yahoo: Team report

The second period featured six goals, but the Kings made their biggest impact in the first period. They trailed 1-0 after just 15 seconds, after a turnover behind their net, but the Kings maintained their composure, tied the game at the nine-minute mark and scored two more goals for a 3-1 lead. The backbreaker came when Michal Handzus scored a shorthanded goal 1:02 into the second period for the 3-1 lead.

• LAKings.com: Royal road report

 The Capitals who sport the second-best home record in the NHL behind the San Jose Sharks, lost for just the fifth time at home all season, the fourth time all year the Caps have not recorded a point in posting a 21-4-1 home mark. The Kings were able to do something just three other teams have done this year in beating the Capitals in regulation. It was the Capitals first home loss since Jan.13 against Edmonton.

They said it

"They’re really structured. They don’t get pulled out of position much. They’re a defense-first team and gets a lot of work on transition. When you make mistakes and you get frustrated, they’re going to take advantage of it. And that’s what we don’t want… We’ve got to take what they give you, and if they don’t give you much, live to fight another day." – Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, before the game, on the Kings defense.

"Penalty killing was good. That was a big focus on the pregame meeting was their power play. They’ve got those special players back there and they’ve been pretty explosive in the last couple of games. So the penalty killers did a good job; real focused and got a shorthanded goal, which ended up being obviously a huge goal for us."”—Kings coach Terry Murray, on special teams.

"We just have got to keep rolling and we’re right there on the verge or the bubble of the playoffs. So these road games are going to be big challenges but we need to follow up."– Kings captain Dustin Brown, on the Kings continuing to chase a playoff spot.

"You play so many games growing up. [When] you let up a goal you can’t get down on yourself, especially that early in the game. There’s a lot of hockey to play… You dust if off and you keep moving forward." – Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. on overcoming a quick goal allowed.

"Against these guys you want to come with a checking mind set because they have a lot of firepower. They have a couple of really good players and [to] shut them down first is the key. And when you play good defense the chances are going to come. So we were able to capitalize on a couple of those tonight." – Kings center Anze Kopitar, on playing against the Capitals.

Looking through purple-hued goggles

• The Throne Room: Kings hold off Caps third period rally

The third period was the Jon Quick show, as the Caps were pressing and had the Kings on their heels for the majority of the final frame. Washington outshot the Kings’ 22-5 and Quick made save after spectacular save to help preserve the Kings’ lead.

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From the other side of the ice, the Washington view

• Japers Rink: Friday Roundup - Kings 5, Caps 4

My guess is that the first fifteen seconds of Our American Cousin was pretty sweet, too.

• The Peerless Prognosticator: A no-point night

It was fitting that last night’s opponent was the Los Angeles Kings. I felt as if I was hearing the voice of Charlton Heston standing upon the rock in "The Ten Commandments," proclaiming...“Behold, his mighty hand!" And then the Red Sea parted.

• Washington Times: Postgame thoughts

“They’ve beaten us twice, and we’re a better team than them,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “That’s a real negative when you’ve lost eight points to Columbus and to L.A. Taking nothing away from those teams, they’re well below us in the standings even if they’re in the West.”

• ComCastsportsNet.tv: Beninati: Bad plays at the danger zone costs Caps

I thought Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick was awesome throughout, especially in the third period when he single-handedly kept the Kings in front and earned them the win.

• A View From the Cheap Seats: We Play 60 minutes, boys

There was a 10-15 minute stretch in tonight’s game in which the Caps looked absolutely dominant. Passes were crisp and quick, shots were on net, forechecking was in full gear - everything looked great. This was a winning team.
Too bad an entire game happened before that.

Peeping the dailies