Kings end losing streak, 5-2

Something had to give.

Coming off the most shameful performances of their spiraling seasons, the Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs returned to the ice Thursday night, each aiming to prove they weren’t that dreadful.

The Kings made their point in hurry, scoring four goals in the first period and putting goalie Jason LaBarbera at ease. LaBarbera finished with a career-high 48 saves in the 5-2 victory in front of the seventh sellout crowd of the season at Staples Center.

The victory also ended a three-game losing streak and may have signaled the beginning of a turnaround. Or, at the very least, the end of the latest free fall.

“Our fans have supported us the whole year and it was our responsibility to come out and show them that we’re not giving up on the season,” said Dustin Brown, who scored two goals. “We’re a good team in here, it’s just a matter of putting the hard work in, and tonight we put the hard work in.”

Both teams began the game with similar season portfolios; poor penalty killing, weak goaltending and a knack for falling behind early.

The Kings were coming off a 7-0 loss Tuesday night against Nashville, their most one-sided defeat of the season.

The Maple Leafs, making their second appearance in L.A. in 10 years, were shut out Wednesday night by the Ducks, 5-0.

The Kings scored first for the second time in the last 15 games. Even more rare, linemates Michael Handzus and Kyle Calder combined on a point for the first time since Dec. 12.

Handzus crossed a pass out in front of the crease to Calder, who missed on his first swipe but knocked his second to the right of Toronto goalie Andrew Raycroft at 2:44 of the first period.

Brian Willsie was also awarded an assist on the play, the 100th point of his career.

“That was big,” Calder said. “We wanted to get off to a good start.”

Anze Kopitar, who learned Wednesday night that he had been selected to play in the NHL All-Star game, teamed with Patrick O’Sullivan on both of Brown’s power-play goals in the opening period, giving him a team-high 22 goals, including 10 on the man-advantage.

Brown also had two goals when these teams last met in December 2005.

Alexander Frolov also scored in the first period, his eighth goal of the season and fourth in the last five games.

He brought the puck out from behind the net, where he turned and scored in one motion.

Toronto, a loser of four straight, had only six shots in the first period but ended up outshooting the Kings, 50-24.

The Maple Leafs pulled Raycroft in favor of Vesa Toskala to start the second, but Rob Blake greeted him with a hard slap shot into the top right corner of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Coach Marc Crawford said during the morning skate that he wanted to stick with LaBarbera because he didn’t believe the 27-year-old was entirely to blame for the team’s one-sided loss two nights earlier to the Predators.

LaBarbera was pulled in that game after giving up three goals in a 75-second span of the first period.

He had one of his best stretches of late during a two-man advantage for Toronto late in the second period. He twice stopped point-blank shots from Darcy Tucker and turned away two other hard slap shots.

“I knew I needed to come up with a good effort,” LaBarbera said. “I haven’t been feeling too good about myself the last couple of games.”

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dan.arritt@latimes.com