At This Point, Kings Take Solace in Tying Capitals

Considering the Kings’ season so far, it is possible to see that Coach Tom Webster’s apparent satisfaction with his team’s 2-2 overtime tie with the Washington Capitals Thursday night was the result of a newfangled theory of relativity.

Relative to a loss, a tie is not so bad. Or, relative to the last time the Kings and Capitals played, this game was a thing of beauty.

“Hey, no shorthanded goals,” Webster sardonically noted.

No, nothing like the Kings’ 7-4 shellacking at Washington last Friday night when their special teams proved they were not so special at all. In that game the Kings gave up three power-play goals and three shorthanded goals. It underscored the rapid decline of the special teams play. In five games, the King penalty-killing unit went from fifth in the league to 16th.

Not to be outdone, the Kings’ power play has fashioned an alarming statistic of its own: Having allowed a league-leading nine shorthanded goals, six of them

athome.

Nevertheless, Webster burrowed into the game and came up with the positive outlook he is presenting more and more as things get worse and worse.

“It’s still a small step in the right direction for us,” he said. “The way things are going, it’s still a confidence builder.”

The Kings are 17-19-9. The Capitals are 28-15-4.

There were no shorthanded goals, but no Kings’ power-play goals, either, despite four opportunities. And no Kings’ shots in the last 14 minutes.

King goaltender Kelly Hrudey had 36 saves, frequently facing Capitals barreling, unimpeded, toward him.

The other upside to the game, a la Webster, is that it marks the beginning of the All-Star break.

Speaking the thoughts of many, the Kings’ Tony Granato sighed and said: “I’m looking forward to it.”

He gave the Kings a 1-0 lead with a first-period goal.

That became 2-0 at 6:52 of the second period when Bob Kudelski, back on the Wayne Gretzky line, whirled and sent a spinning backhand pass to Jarri Kurri, who flipped it high for the goal.

The Capitals took advantage of an offensive breakdown for their first goal. Michal Pivonka drew King defenseman Larry Robinson and held onto the puck long enough to cause Robinson to drop to the ice to block the expected shot.

With Robinson out of the way, Pivonka slid the puck to Peter Bondra, who had no one between him and Hrudey. Bondra’s point-blank shot was good.

Predictably, the Kings’ power play/penalty killing proved their undoing.

Washington’s Dale Hunter was slapped with a double-minor penalty, giving the Kings four minutes with a man advantage. Hunter, who is third on the NHL all-time list for penalty minutes, had been in repeated altercations with Granato before the two-penalty blowup.

The Kings had hardly begun the power play when Robitaille took his second holding penalty. That nullified the King advantage and the period ended with another flurry of flung elbows and tossed insults between the teams.

Hunter was the unlikely hero for the Capitals, scoring the game-tying goal at 6:14 in the third period.

The Kings could generate nothing in overtime, including a shot.