For once, youthful Kings can feel like big winners

This was the Kings’ Stanley Cup, their moment of glory in a season filled with regrettable events that greased their descent into last place in the NHL.

Their 3-1 victory over the defending champion Ducks at Staples Center on Thursday sprang from emotion and great energy, a performance that hinted at what they might achieve should this youth movement finally be the one that delivers the franchise from 40 years of Cup envy.

For now, defeating the Ducks will have to be consolation enough for the Kings, who will not win anything this season besides a prime position in the June entry draft.

The ease of the Kings’ effort Thursday illustrated why the Ducks may not win anything of consequence this season, either.

Both teams have much to contemplate as the NHL starts its All-Star break today. The Kings have as much reason to be proud of their recent 5-2 surge as the Ducks have legitimate reason to fret over their three-game losing streak.

“You don’t ever expect to be last in the league, but there are a lot of positives this year from a team standpoint,” Kings winger Dustin Brown said. “We’ve been putting together winning streaks on and off, which we didn’t do last year and it’s something as a team we need to learn how to do.

“Losing is not fun, and that’s something that we players in here can remember for future seasons.”

For the next few days, at least, they have good memories to replay.

Each Kings goal Thursday involved one of the kids who will play key roles in the team’s future if everything plays out as projected -- and if General Manager Dean Lombardi finds better than a second-tier goaltender to build around.

Anze Kopitar scored the first goal on an assist from Brown, who should have been added to the West team for Sunday’s All-Star game in Atlanta for his ability to consistently make an impact for a team that has won 20 times in 51 chances.

Ted Purcell, summoned from minor league Manchester (N.H.) 10 days ago, slid a perfect pass from the left wing to Derek Armstrong for the second goal, a nice bit of skill for a youngster trying to establish himself among the big boys.

And Alexander Frolov, among the oldest of the kids at 25, snapped a shot from the slot that gave the Kings a 3-0 lead and persuaded Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle to give goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere the rest of the night off.

“It’s going to be our responsibility to take ownership of this and make this a successful team and that’s a challenge for us,” Brown said.

“This is going to help us, going through this type of season. Knowing what it’s like to lose is a big motivator, at least for me personally. You never know how much you hate losing until you experience it.”

Rookie defenseman Jack Johnson has reached the same conclusion.

“We’re in last place and things can only get better. They can’t get any worse,” he said.

They may not, if the Kings can play the way they did Thursday.

“I don’t believe you have to learn how to lose before you can win. I don’t believe there’s any need to lose at all,” Johnson said. “Anaheim has got a great team. They just won the Stanley Cup and they’re going to be riding high for a little while. It’s fun for us to go out and play teams like Detroit and Anaheim and see how we measure up.”

The Kings measured up well Thursday because they played a physical game without being stupid. The Ducks too often cross over to the wrong side of that divide, taking penalties that disrupt the little offensive flow they’ve mustered.

Scoring remains the biggest of their problems, even after defenseman Scott Niedermayer ended his brief retirement. What good is it if he gets the puck up ice quickly if there’s no one to finish?

The Ducks thought they had solved their lack of second-line scoring when they acquired veteran center Doug Weight, but his honeymoon was brief. When the line of Todd Bertuzzi, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry is stopped, as it was Thursday, no one has emerged to score the timely goals that fueled the Ducks last season.

Losing center Samuel Pahlsson to abdominal inflammation has hurt the Ducks more than most people realize. Niedermayer was voted the most valuable player in last season’s playoffs but the honor truly belonged to the gritty Swede, who anchored the line that stopped opponents’ top scorers while making valuable contributions on offense.

Without Pahlsson, burly winger Travis Moen has been a lost soul. Rob Niedermayer, another clutch playoff performer, has also struggled; his goal Thursday was only his fourth.

Then, too, there’s the decline of defenseman Francois Beauchemin. He was a revelation last season, delivering bruising hits and bringing a cannon to the power play. This season, despite playing for a defense corps made better by the addition of Mathieu Schneider, Beauchemin has slipped more than a notch. The Ducks have slipped with him, just when they should be stabilizing.

“The all-star break is here,” Scott Niedermayer said, “and from then on in, it’s basically the home stretch and we’ve got to be at our best for sure.”

They weren’t anywhere near that Thursday. This round went decisively to the Kings, and if that’s not enough to spur the Ducks into a post-all-star revival, nothing will.

--

Helene Elliott can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.