Kings Are Defensive After Loss : Hockey: Robinson wary that team is becoming lax after Capitals win, 4-3.

LANDOVER, Md. —  Larry Robinson may speak softly. But that has never stopped him from delivering the hard truth.

And the truth, as Robinson sees it, is that the Kings are sliding back into the bad habits and dark days from whence they came.

It’s not only that they lost to the Washington Capitals Friday night, 4-3, before a sellout crowd of 18,130 at the Capital Centre.

Nor is it merely that this was the first time this season the Kings have lost back-to-back games.

No, Robinson, an NHL defenseman for 19 years, knows poor defense when he sees it, and he thinks he has seen it over the last two games. After giving up 33 goals in their first 12 games, the Kings have surrendered 13 in the last two, raising fears the team has already slipped after vowing to reform and put defense ahead of offense.

“Do you want to win hockey games?” Robinson said. “Or do you want to put on a show?

“We are giving up scoring opportunities, and, the sooner we get that through our thick heads, the better off we’re going to be. We’ve got to get our act together. This was a big game to lose. We shouldn’t have lost. There was no reason for it. We are playing gambling hockey, and that doesn’t pay off.”

In falling to 9-4-1, the Kings remained one point behind the Smythe Division-leading Calgary Flames.

But some of the factors that had propelled the Kings to their best start in a decade were missing Friday night.

The power-play unit was a perfect example. The Kings had scored at least one power-play goal in 11 of their first 12 games.

Friday, they did not have a goal in their four power-play opportunities, extending their scoreless streak in that department to 12.

Despite all their problems, the Kings were tied heading into the final period Friday night in a game they never led.

The Capitals had scored twice in the opening period, Kevin Hatcher getting his fourth goal and John Druce his seventh.

But Tony Granato countered with his eighth goal and Dave Taylor tied the score with his third goal 11:37 into the second period.

Washington went ahead again on Nick Kypreos’ third goal, but Wayne Gretzky got the equalizer, putting in a 20-foot shot from the slot over the stick of goalie Mike Liut at 16:16 for his team-leading 10th goal.

In extending his point-scoring streak to 12 games, Gretzky moved past Calgary’s Al MacInnis into the league’s scoring lead with 28 points.

But the goal that mattered most this night was scored by Washington left wing Michal Pivonka. He took a 35-foot shot from the slot that slipped past goalie Kelly Hrudey’s pads at 3:34 of the final period.

It was Pivonka’s fourth goal, and it was, as it turned out, adios for the Kings.

“You are going to let goals like that in during a season,” Hrudey said. “You just wish it was not 3-3 in the third period when it happened. It was one of those nights where playing goalie was not fun.

“You have just got to pick your head up and go on.”

The Kings had only one shot on goal in the last seven minutes.

With 46 seconds to play, King Coach Tom Webster pulled Hrudey, but, even with the extra skater, the team failed to add to their shot total of 23.

The Capitals didn’t get a shot on goal over those last seven minutes, but, by then, they were more concerned with protecting their own net.

“They were sending one guy in,” Granato said, “and stacking four at the blue line. It’s pretty tough to penetrate.”

It was a big victory for the Capitals. Despite an injury list that includes Dino Ciccarelli, Peter Zezel, Alan May, Neil Sheehy and goalie Don Beaupre, the team moved above .500 for the first time this season at 8-7.

The Kings are 2-3 on this trip, with the finale Sunday in Chicago.

“We are still confident we’ve got a real good squad,” Granato said, “and a team that has the talent to be in first place. What a good team does is stop these slides at one or two games, not let them get to five or six. Now we’ll see whether or not we are a good team.”

King Notes

A dinner, honoring former King Marcel Dionne, on the floor of the Forum Wednesday night will be open to the public. Tickets may be purchased through the Kings. Dionne’s jersey will be retired in a ceremony Thursday, preceding the game against the Detroit Red Wings. . . . Washington forward Dino Ciccarelli, out since Oct. 20 with a broken thumb, skated for the first time Thursday. It was merely to keep in shape, however. He is not expected back in the lineup until the middle of next month.