Kings cool off Capitals

Hockey Betting Lines

11/21/2008 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Brown and Michal Handzus each had a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings beat Washington, 5-2, handing the Capitals their first regular loss since November 1.

Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Patrick O'Sullivan also lit the lamp for the Kings, who won for the fifth time in seven games. Erik Ersberg stopped 19 shots in the victory.

"We got a good effort tonight from everybody, from the top right through the bottom," said Kings coach Terry Murray. "I thought the team dug in...the puck movement and the play away from the puck was tremendous."

Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich scored for the Capitals, who were 5-0-2 in their previous seven games. This was their first regulation defeat since being blanked at Buffalo. Brent Johnson stopped 28 shots in the loss.

"I thought he played great," said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. "He deserved a better fate. I thought that second goal was a little soft and it was a tough goal, but he kept us in with the point blank shots. We needed at least three of four tonight to win anyway."

The Caps were without their top offensive weapon in Alexander Semin, who was out with an upper body injury. Defenseman Mike Green was also sidelined.

Brown's power play goal with 6:06 remaining boosted the Kings to a 3-1 lead.

It was a bit of revenge for Brown, as the Kings were put on the power play when Alexander Ovechkin slammed into the LA forward and was called for interference.

"I was coming back to the net and I'm not sure what he was thinking," said Brown. "We were battling all night. I haven't seen it yet but, he kind of came in and caught me when I wasn't looking without the puck and then we ended up capitalizing and that was the game."

Ovechkin thought differently of the hit.

"I didn't hit him, he hit my ear," said Ovechkin. "Just a guess, and I'll watch the replay, but I think he didn't see me, I went to the net and turned around and was hit."

The Kings scored a short time later. Kyle Quincey skated with the puck from his own end to the Washington zone up the right side before sending a pass to the crease, where Brown backhanded the disc over the right pad of Johnson.

Laich scored nearly 1 1/2 minutes later from in front, but Handzus and Kopitar added empty-net tallies in the last minute.

Doughty scored the lone first-period goal at 13:58 when his shot from near the blue line deflected off Ovechkin's stick and rose past Johnson.

Backstrom tied it at 4:48 of the second from in close off a cross-ice pass from Viktor Kozlov.

O'Sullivan gave LA a 2-1 edge with 1:35 left in the middle stanza on a shot from the right circle.

Game Notes

The Kings are one of three teams Ovechkin has never scored against. San Jose and Minnesota are the others...Kopitar's goal in the last second represented LA's first shorthanded tally of the season...The Caps had won the previous two meetings.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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