And the Kings lost three of their next five games

)" width"400">Game 29: Kings 6, Senators 3It seems the Kings have embraced what former Presidential candidate Al Gore has been selling for years: using alternative energy.When Ryan Smyth went down to injury, many Kings fans sighed and said "here we go again". Kopitar had already started to falter, even before Smyth's upper body injury against the Panthers. And the Kings lost three of their next five games.But that was Snore-vember. This is now the December to Dismember, and the Kings are undefeated after taking the Senators to the woodshed. And the concern over who would step up their game has clearly been answered.Wayne Simmonds has become mine and everyone's favorite player, and not just because he's scored four goals in the past five games.

The way he plays the game with such energy and skill gives Kings fans reason for relief. It's his work ethic, of constantly pushing and playing that makes him a solid player. He plays themajority of his minutes at even strength, and has benefited sharing a line with Michal Handzus.Simmonds got the penalty shot when he was pulled down by Filip Kuba. He took the puck and slowly skated toward the goal, almost shark-like in his approach. Then he deftly tucked it under Brian Elliott to make it 2-1 in the first. It was Simmonds first NHL shootout goal, but he made it look easy.That's when the wheels fell off for the Senators, who quickly had not one, not two but three players go to the box in under a minute near the end of the period.

That meant the Kings would come back in the second with a two-man advantage and plenty of time to pump the puck at the net and pot some goals. Perhaps Anze Kopitar would break his 10-game scoring slump.Nope. They couldn't muster many shots, even with two extra guys on the ice. There was a scary moment, when Anze Kopitar crashed against the boards and stayed crumpled on the ice as play continued. It led up to the Senators' third goal.I don't have to tell you what EVERYONE was thinking after seeing Kopitar doubled over in pain It's the sight that no one wants to see. But as it turned out, it probably slapped the Kings in the face and forced them to realize they were going to have to wake up.Things started getting antsy, as it looked like the game was slipping out of the Kings grasp. That's when Drew Doughty's power play goal gave the Kings a much-needed boost, and snapping a mini-4-game scoring slump of his own Kopitar had an assist of the goal.

And even better, with the goal, Drew matched last year's offensive production.After that, the Kings came out in the third and knew what they had to do to insure a victory. They were huge in the faceoff circles, with both Handzus and Kopitar winning over 80 percent of the drops. And it was Kopitar's linemate Justin Williams who scored twice to cement the win and send Ottawa on to Anaheim with a raw butt from such an ass-kicking.I think Williams summed it up best when he told Rich and the assembled media: "We’ve won three in a row, and we’ve won them in three different fashions. The thing I’m happy about is, good teams and great teams find a way to win games when they’re not at their best We were definitely not at our best. We were loose tonight, but we ended up coming away with two points."So now I can stop harping on secondary scoring now. It took a while for them to find their way, but the Kings look to be back on track next up is the always tough St Louis Blues With a 1 p.m.