Kings Hold Capitals to a 7-3 Victory : NHL: A week after 10-3 beating by Washington, they search for anything positive following two consecutive losses on road.

Improvement, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder.

The Kings managed to condense their usual stretch of mistake-prone hockey into one neat, tidy segment. Afterward, they looked upon this dubious accomplishment as progress.

Instead of one lousy period, the Kings confined their ineptness to the final three minutes of the second period. During that span, they gave up four goals, as Washington went on to defeat the Kings, 7-3, before 17,812 at Capital Centre on Saturday.

This is progress?

The Capitals did hit double figures in last Saturday night’s 10-3 humiliation of the Kings in Los Angeles when they scored seven goals during the second period. This time, they only scored four goals during the second period.

Last Saturday, Washington defenseman Al Iafrate scored twice. This time, the Kings held Iafrate to one assist.

If you look hard enough for progress, you can find it almost anywhere.

The Kings (26-27-7) found more happy news afterward when they discovered that Hartford defeated Edmonton, in keeping with the snail-like race for the final two playoff spots in the Smythe Division. By winning only twice in the last 25 days, the third-place Kings lead the fifth-place Oilers by seven points and the fourth-place Winnipeg Jets by three points.

“There are 25 games (actually 24) left (so) we can’t keep saying, ‘Wait ‘til the playoffs,’ ” said center Jimmy Carson, who had one assist. “We’ve got to start right now. In the last two, three weeks there’s been a lot of good signs.”

Those positive developments came to a halt in the second and third games of this five-game road trip. The Kings have given up 14 goals in defeats to Chicago and Washington. They are squandering decent goaltending performances--Rick Knickle against Chicago and Kelly Hrudey against the Capitals on Saturday.

Hrudey played two periods--facing 22 shots and giving up six goals--before Robb Stauber appeared in relief for the third. Stauber, who had not played since Feb. 11, gave up one goal and made six saves.

All four goaltenders who have appeared in games for the Kings this season have taken turns as victims of a rattled defense.

This time, the Kings’ breakdown seemed to come out of nowhere. Although they trailed, 2-0, on goals by rookies Keith Jones and Steve Konowalchuk during the first period, the Kings were holding the Capitals’ most explosive scorers, Peter Bondra and Mike Ridley, in check. In fact, they were getting most of the scoring chances and outshot the Capitals until the final three minutes of the second period.

Washington pounced at the 17-minute mark, scoring on four consecutive shots. Ridley beat Hrudey between the pads with a shot from above the right circle to make the score 3-0.

At 18:35, Bondra’s 28th of the season increased the lead to 4-0.

Twenty-three seconds later, Jones scored his second of the game, deflecting in Dale Hunter’s shot from slightly outside the left crease.

With 35 seconds remaining in the period, Dimitri Khristich took advantage of a rare blown coverage by defenseman Rob Blake and put the puck in off Hrudey’s leg for 6-0.

The Kings, mercifully, received a 15-minute timeout, also known as the second-period intermission.

Hrudey was philosophical about the loss.

“You’ve got to take everything you can from a game,” Hrudey said. “And then look ahead to the next game.”

Said Wayne Gretzky, who had one assist: “We did play well for most of the game. What we have to do is concentrate on some of the things we did well.”

King Coach Barry Melrose was succinct about the second-period collapse.

“It was three minutes of hell,” he said, shaking his head.

Melrose nearly repeated himself a minute later, saying: “Three minutes from hell.”

King Notes

Forward Gary Shuchuk, injured during the Chicago game, has a chip fracture and hyper-extension of his right elbow. He returned to Los Angeles and will be re-evaluated on Monday by King physician Ronald Kvitne. . . . Forward Marc Potvin (broken nose) skated in the pregame warm-up, but Barry Melrose decided to keep him out of the lineup. Potvin had surgery on Friday to repair his nose. . . . Goaltender Rick Knickle, who is getting over a recent case of food poisoning, has lost about eight pounds because of the illness. He said he is feeling better. Knickle, who made his NHL debut against Chicago, is expected to play Monday night against Tampa Bay. His parents, George and Janet Knickle, live in nearby Lakeland, Fla., his sister is flying in from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and his brother is coming in from Vancouver to watch the game. “My dad said, ‘Seven goals? Not a good game, eh?’ ” Knickle said, smiling. He then reminded his father he faced 46 shots against Chicago.

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