Peer into my Cristobal

Huet makes 21 saves as Kings knock off Caps 3-1

Posted: Friday March 14, 2003 9:45 PM
Updated: Friday March 14, 2003 10:55 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a week of distractions, the Washington Capitals let first place slip away by losing to a goaltender making his first NHL start.

Rookie Alexander Frolov scored twice, and Cristobal Huet made 21 saves as the Los Angeles Kings knocked the Capitals out of the top spot in the Southeast Division with a 3-1 victory Friday night.

"Games like these come back to haunt you," Washington goaltender Olaf Kolzig said. "We've got 10 games left. If we don't play better, even if we make the playoffs it's not going to be a long postseason.

"This is getting ridiculous, the games we've wasted away all year long."

The loss, coupled with Tampa Bay's 4-2 victory over Buffalo, moved the Lightning one point ahead of Washington. The defeat also ended the Capitals' streak of eight games with at least one point.

"They played with more urgency than we did and wanted it more," Washington coach Bruce Cassidy said. "As a group, we weren't ready to play. We're the better team on paper, and we should have urgency to hang onto first place. There should have been a lot of urgency, and there wasn't on our end."

The Capitals had three days of rest to prepare for a team that had traveled cross-country, but those three days were marred by three off-the-ice stories: Jaromir Jagr's tax problems, Jagr's old gambling debts, and the news that Cassidy had recently resolved a paternity suit in Salt Lake City.

Jagr didn't play Friday, missing his second game with a broken bone in his wrist.

"These are all individual problems that should not affect our team," Kolzig said. "It didn't affect me tonight. I wasn't worried about what's going in Salt Lake City or what's going on in some offshore gambling account. I'm sorry it's going on, but it's not affecting me, and it shouldn't affect anybody in this room. If it did, then guys need to get mentally tougher."

The Kings, with faint playoff hopes, have gone younger since Tuesday's trade deadline. Huet had played in only four games -- all in relief -- and had just one NHL victory.

"He was there we needed him," Los Angeles coach Andy Murray said. "But we didn't give up a lot of chances."

Sean Avery, acquired from Detroit on Tuesday just before the trade deadline, scored for Los Angeles in the first period.

Sergei Berezin, also a trade deadline acquisition, scored for Washington. Mostly, however, the Capitals had trouble creating scoring opportunities and were stung by defensive turnovers.

"I'd rather talk about our guys creating turnovers than the Washington defense playing poorly," Murray said. "I thought our guys worked very hard and were on their defense pretty hard."

Frolov put the Kings ahead in the final minute of the second period when his shot from the right circle struck Calle Johansson's skate and caught Kolzig leaning the wrong way.

Frolov scored again with 5:20 left in the game, skating unimpeded down the slot to convert Ziggy Palffy's pass after a Capitals turnover behind the net. The Russian left wing has 13 goals on the season, including two two-goal games.

Berezin had a late third-period goal waved off when replay showed that he swatted the puck into the net with his right hand.

The Capitals also played without Kip Miller and Brendan Witt. Miller has been out since March 2 with a hand injury, and Witt is recovering from a chest bruise from Monday's game against Philadelphia.

Notes: The Kings' struggling power play failed to convert a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:53 in the second period and included six saves by Kolzig. Los Angeles hasn't scored a power-play goal in six games. ... The Kings had scored just eight goals in their previous five games. ... The Capitals activated D Jean-Francois Fortin earlier Friday. He had been on the injured list since Feb. 19 with back spasms.