Capitals End Kings’ Streak, 6-3

Even before the Kings’ seven-game unbeaten streak ended Friday night, there had been increasing, troubling signs that were masked by their man wearing the mask, goaltender Kelly Hrudey.

And after the Washington Capitals got a hat trick from left wing Randy Burridge and defeated the Kings, 6-3, before a crowd of 17,017, King Coach Barry Melrose promised--or threatened?--that several changes were imminent.

“I’m going to bring up a bunch of guys,” said Melrose, speaking of the Kings’ minor league affiliate in Phoenix.

How many?

“Three or four,” he said. “The last three games, guys are taking things for granted. I’m not getting the effort. If you’re not going to give effort, you’re not going to play for me. We were OK in Florida, OK in Tampa Bay.

“Well, OK is not good enough for this club.”

If Melrose benched several of his players, it would not surprise many people, especially the Kings. Last season, he banished Jari Kurri and Charlie Huddy to the press box for one game in Chicago. Earlier, he sat out defenseman Alexei Zhitnik and in the playoffs, center Jimmy Carson was benched during the Campbell Conference and Stanley Cup finals.

This season, left wing Mike Donnelly worked his way out of the doghouse after a week in exile.

“Overall, looking at things, it’s hard to believe we’ve only lost two games,” Tony Granato said of the Kings, who are 5-2-2 and hadn’t lost since Oct. 6, when they were defeated by the Vancouver Canucks. “We’ve had great goaltending. But we’re not playing the way we’re capable of playing. It’s mind-boggling, we’re having as much trouble. You have to play with more intensity and more fire than we have been playing with.

“We’ve got to stop this before it gets worse. There are no excuses. We can’t say it’s early. It’s not the way we play around here anymore.”

And he knows Melrose’s comments were not hollow words.

“Barry proved that last year,” Granato said. “Everyone understands that. There’s going to be changes. No one is going to be surprised.”

Almost everyone among the Kings realizes that only three forwards are providing maximum effort, game in and game out--Dave Taylor, Pat Conacher and Wayne Gretzky, who scored once and added an assist. And it seems as though they will probably need an extra defenseman as insurance since Rob Blake suffered a bruised right hip early in the second period.

Blake, who scored to cut the Capitals’ lead to 3-2 at 4:45 of the second period, hurt his hip when he tried to check left wing Dimitri Khristich and missed him. He tried killing a penalty later, but left for good midway through the period.

“The nerve was bruised on the right side,” trainer Pete Demers said. “If he turned a certain way, it would bother him. We’ve got to let that settle down.”

Said Blake, who will be re-evaluated today: “Every time I went to turn one way, my leg went numb. It felt real numb. If I go to turn to go backward, it bothers me. Walking straight is fine.”

Without Blake, the Kings were down to five defensemen, but they were in trouble against Washington long before that as the Capitals opened a 3-0 lead within the first 9:06 on two goals by Burridge and one by Al Iafrate. The only real offensive spurt by the Kings came in a span of 2:13 when Kurri and Blake scored early in the second period.

Then Burridge a scored power-play goal to make it 4-2 at 10:29 and Khristich put the Capitals ahead by three goals at 13:23 after Mike Ridley set him up, taking advantage of a Kurri giveaway. Burridge, who sat out most of last season after reconstructive knee surgery, had recently been benched and came into Friday’s game with one goal in three games.

“That’s the Randy Burridge we were talking about in training camp,” Washington Coach Terry Murray said. “He doesn’t have to have a hat trick every night as long as he plays intelligently and smart.”

Said Burridge: “When you look at us on paper, sooner or later, we were going to come around.”

Somehow, it did not matter that, before Friday, the Capitals had won only once this season. They almost always play well against the Kings, especially at home. The Kings have not won in Landover since the 1989-90 season.

“Our style is to attack and hit and take the man and forecheck,” Gretzky said. “We just didn’t do that tonight.

Said Huddy: “I’ve been coming here for 13 years and I don’t know the last time I won a game here.”