Washington Capitals 4, Kings 3
BOXSCORE
LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Red-hot Peter Bondra ignited a four-goal second period and Olaf Kolzig made 27 saves as the Washington Capitals remained perfect on their six-game road trip with a 4-3 victory over the reeling Los Angeles Kings.
Washington has won the first three games on the trip to improve to 11-15-3-0 away from home. The Capitals are 5-0-1-0 in their last six contests overall and lead second-place Carolina by eight points in the Southeast Division. After taking a 1-0 lead into the second period, Los Angeles became undisciplined and took numerous penalties on which Washington capitalized. It began with just under 14 minutes left in the second, when Kelly Buchberger and defenseman Jere Karalahti took penalties 14 seconds apart.
On the ensuing 5-on-3 advantage, Bondra one-timed a pass from Sergei Gonchar by goaltender Jamie Storr for the tying tally. Bondra has 21 goals and 30 points over his last 22 games and leads the league with 15 power-play markers. Karalahti was still in the box when Glen Murray joined him after taking a slashing penalty to set up another 5-on-3 for the Capitals. Moments later, Gonchar took a shot from the left point that was blocked by Buchberger. But it went back to Gonchar, who blasted a second attempt by Storr for his 13th goal.
Steve Konowalchuk pushed the lead to 3-1 with 3:45 left in the period. He had a wraparound attempt stopped by Storr, but rookie Steven Reinprecht fanned on a clearing attempt, enabling Konowalchuk to poke in the puck for his 17th goal. Richard Zednik capped Washington's onslaught with 14 seconds to go in the second. He skated around a Kings defenseman on a 2-on-1 and let go a sharp-angle shot that bounced behind Storr.
Washington was limited to one shot in the third period and allowed goals by defensemen Lubomir Visnovsky and Karalahti that cut the margin to one. But the Kings could not get the equalizer by Kolzig, who improved to 13-3-0-1 in one-goal decisions. The Capitals snapped a five-game winless streak in Los Angeles (0-3-2), winning here for the first time since a 6-1 rout on February 12, 1994.
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