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Kopitar, Kings spoil Ovechkin milestone, down Capitals

Feb 6, 2009 - 3:56 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Alex Ovechkin collected his milestone goal, but the Los Angeles Kings skated away with the victory.

Anze Kopitar recorded two goals and an assist as the Kings scored three times in the second period and spoiled a milestone achievement by Ovechkin en route to a 5-4 triumph over the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

Michal Handzus netted a shorthanded goal and Patrick O'Sullivan and Kyle Calder also tallied for Los Angeles, which improved to 5-1-0 in its last six games.

"It's pretty exciting for me to see these players on our hockey club come in here tonight, playing against one of the premier teams in the game, and give it a big focus and a big push and get two points," Kings coach Terry Murray said.

"We're better than what I thought we'd be at this time, to be honest with you. Everybody likes what's going on."

Alexander Frolov, captain Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll each notched a pair of assists and Jonathan Quick rebounded from allowing a goal 15 seconds into the game to turn aside 41 shots for the Kings.

"You let up a goal, you can't get down on yourself. You dust it off and you keep moving forward," Quick said. "It was a great pass, great shot. The team did a great job in front of me.

"We scored the fifth goal, and that ended up being huge. They did a great job of getting a lot of shots to the net, and our team did a great job of getting the rebounds and playing good defensive hockey."

Ovechkin recorded his 200th career goal, defenseman Mike Green scored twice and Alexander Semin also tallied for Washington, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.

"The first period wasn't pretty, but the second period was downright ugly," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "After big games, you have a letdown, and hopefully it's a one-time thing and we'll get back to where we're supposed to be. We certainly didn't play like the team that's played the three or four previous games."

Nicklas Backstrom registered a pair of assists and Jose Theodore made 30 saves for the Capitals, who enjoyed a 22-5 advantage in shots during the third period.

Kopitar gave Los Angeles a 2-1 advantage just 13 seconds into the second period, lifting the puck under the crossbar for his 14th tally. It capped the Slovenian's second multi-goal effort of the campaign.

"Against these guys, you want to come with the checking mind set because they have a lot of firepower," Kopitar said. "When you play good defense, the chances are going to come, and we were able to capitalize on a couple of those tonight.

"We're happy to get two points. They've got a lot of firepower and shutting them down (on special teams) was big for us."

With his team shorthanded, Handzus doubled the lead 49 seconds later by alertly tapping in a loose puck in the crease after Frolov's initial shot was denied by Theodore. For Handzus, it was his third goal in as many games.

"Not smart hockey," Green said of the shorthanded tally. "Every team is coming at us because they know we've given up a few. We've just got to be aware."

Green answered just 41 seconds afterward with his fifth in as many contests, but O'Sullivan restored the Kings' two-goal advantage by converting a breakaway chance at 7:26.

Ovechkin halved the deficit with his tally midway through the third period.

Playing in his 296th career game, Ovechkin received a centering pass from Semin and unleashed a shot that beat Quick at 10:32 for his league-leading 37th goal of the season.

With the tally, the reigning Hart Trophy winner became the fourth player to score 200 goals in four seasons. Ovechkin joined Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux in the exclusive club.

"I don't want to talk about my personal stuff," Ovechkin said. "We had great chances (late), but we didn't score."

The Capitals' momentum was short-lived as Calder again gave the Kings a two-goal bulge with 93 seconds remaining.

Although Green added his second of the game with 66 seconds to go, Washington could not solve Quick again and ultimately had its winning streak halted.

"I always believe we're going to win. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't have pulled the goalie when it was 5-3," Boudreau said. "I still thought we were going to catch up. We hit the crossbar with three or four seconds to go in the game. It's one of those things where it's too little, too late.

"You've got a 60-minute game. When you don't do the first 40, you're not going to win just in 20 - or very rarely anyway."