Capitals Quietly Wipe Out Kings, 6-1

The Washington Capitals didn’t march into the Forum Saturday night bragging about being better than the Kings.

They didn’t have to.

Any one of 16,005 spectators on hand could have told them that after Washington crushed the Kings, 6-1.

Twenty-four hours earlier, the Kings, angry at statements by the Mighty Ducks that they were superior to the Kings at even strength, had responded emotionally on the ice with a clutch victory.

But Saturday night, the Kings showed little of that strength and no emotion.

Not to mention defense.

“We weren’t very good,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “I don’t have any excuses. It was a team effort. I can’t think of any player who excelled. . . . A lot of players didn’t show up.”

Melrose wasn’t about to fall back on the excuse of an emotional letdown after Friday night.

“If you’re a professional,” he said, “you play hard for 84 games. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Anyone wondering how the Kings, Stanley Cup finalists a year ago, could have dropped below the last playoff spot this season, need only have attended Saturday night’s game to understand.

This is a team that has made its goalies feel like clay pigeons of late, a team whose defensemen too often seem to disappear behind their own blue line, a team that does its only consistent checking at the bank.

Saturday night’s loss, one of the most dismal of the season, dropped the Kings to 21-28-6, leaving them three points behind the San Jose Sharks, holders of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Kings scored the first goal of the night, Warren Rychel getting his eighth of the season a little over nine minutes into the game, then gave up the game’s remaining six goals.

The Kings had been outshot, 100-46, in their previous two games, both victories.

And Saturday night was no different, except for the outcome.

The Kings were outshot, 15-3, in the first period, 32-13 over two periods and 41-23 for the game.

Robb Stauber, the Kings’ backup goalie, had gone nine games without a start before finally getting one Wednesday night. He made the most of it, beating Chicago despite facing 51 shots.

But Saturday night, Stauber, the starter again, couldn’t hold the dam.

Washington scored twice in the first period, Craig Berube’s sixth goal of the season followed by Kevin Hatcher’s 10th.

The Hatcher goal came on a sequence that summed up the night for the Kings.

One minute, Wayne Gretzky, who had two goals and five points the night before, was streaking down the ice with the puck.

When goalie Don Beaupre came out to challenge, Gretzky slid the puck around Beaupre and was staring at a wide-open net.

But stare was all he could do.

Gretzky slipped as he tried to control the puck, and the Capitals had no such difficulty at the other end, Hatcher scoring on Stauber’s glove side.

Washington blew it open with four goals in the second period.

Although he replaced Stauber with Kelly Hrudey in the final period, Melrose wasn’t about to lay the blame on his starting goalie.

“It wasn’t Robb Stauber,” Melrose said. “The guys were horrible in front of him.”