Norstrom hopes for momentum off win

Team captain Mattias Norstrom stood among the buzz in the Kings’ dressing room Sunday night, talking like a proud father. His “kids” were going about the business of unwrapping tape, icing bruises and decompressing after a 3-2 victory over the mighty Ducks.

“I like this,” Norstrom said. “Nobody in here is making too much out of this. This was a great win, but we know we are still not where we want to be.”

This was a bookmark moment -- beating the team with the most points in the NHL -- and the Kings have few of those to look back on this season. In fact, the only other victory in the same category was when the Kings beat San Jose, another Pacific Division heavyweight, on Nov. 13.

The Kings then lost three of their next four games.

So, now comes the hard part: making this victory over the Ducks a turning point.

“We feel rewarded right now,” Norstrom said, still scanning the dressing room. “I know we said this so many times before, but we have to work hard. That’s how we’re going to be successful. We did that tonight and we got the two points. A victory like this shows we’re capable of playing with teams of this caliber.”

The consecutive games against the Ducks were the beginning of an eight-game stretch that probably will show whether the Kings are capable of joining the playoff race. They face six more games against Western Conference muscle, starting with the Nashville Predators on Thursday. After that, they play the Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks (twice), Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames.

“We should know what kind of team we are by the end of this,” center Craig Conroy said.

A .500 record in the next six games would seem to be the very least the Kings need to accomplish, though even that would leave them with only 30 points through 35 games. After all, Sunday’s victory merely allowed the Kings to climb past the Chicago Blackhawks into 11th place in the conference.

Still ...

“It’s good to get back on the horse,” Conroy said. “We have a few days off and we’ve got to regroup. This is the way we needed to play against probably the best team in the league. We’ve just got to duplicate this night in and night out.”

Then, maybe, they can celebrate.

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Kings defenseman Brent Sopel, out because of broken bones in his ankle and hand, may begin skating on his own today....The Kings will visit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles today to distribute gifts to pediatric cancer and rehabilitation patients.

chris.foster@latimes.com