Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Wednesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The loss dropped the Capitals record to 49-14-4 (103 points).  The win raised the Kings record to 40-22-4 (84 points). The Capitals will now head north to San Jose (on Friday) to visit the Sharks on Saturday night. Puck-drop on Saturday is 10:30 PM EST.

The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Burakovsky-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Johansson-Wilson
Winnik-Richards-Beagle

Defensive Pairs:
Alzner-Niskanen
Orpik-Orlov
Weber-Chorney

Michael Latta, Nate Schmidt and Stanislav Galiev were the healthy scratches for the Caps. The goalie matchup for tonight’s game, provided by @washcaps:

QUICK TAKES
The Capitals once again gave up the game’s first goal. This was the 12th time in 14 games and 19th time in 24 games that the Caps yielded the games first score. The Caps were trailing in shots on goal 8-2 at the mid-way point of the opening period. The Caps would give up three goals in the first 14 minutes of play. The Caps started the second period with some renewed vigor, but the Kings would regain control about midway through the period. The third period once again saw increased pressure by the Caps to start the final frame. T.J. Oshie would break the shutout with a power-play goal early. The Caps would tie the game on goals by Nicklas Backstrom and Dmitry Orlov, sending the game into overtime, but the Kings would win it in OT. Team stats for the game can be found here: Player stats for the game can be found here: Faceoff stats for the game can be found here: Photos for the game can be found here:

@joshschaefer25

Coach Trotz started with a line of Winnik-Richards-Williams as a tribute and tip-of-the-cap to all three who played in Southern California in the past. The Caps Jay Beagle was whistled for the game’s first penalty, tripping at 3:13 of the opening frame, and it would cost the Caps. Vincent Lecavalier would knock-in a rebound at 4:52.

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The Caps would return to the penalty kill at 6:11 on a high-sticking call on Evgeny Kuznetsov, but this time the Caps would successfully kill the King’s man-advantage. The King’s would stretch the lead to 2-0 when Jake Muzzin nailed a wrister from the left point at 12:05 of the first period.

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The Kings would add another goal by Milan Lucic at 13:26, giving them a 3-0 lead.

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Mike Weber and Dwight King would drop the mitts at 19:54. The period would end with the Kings leading 3-0. The Kings led in shots on goal 14-6.

Trotz started mixing up the lines from the start of the second period, as Jay Beagle and Mike Richards joined Alex Ovechkin on the top line. The Caps showed much better intensity and increased offensive zone time to start the middle frame. The Kings started to regain control of play midway through the period. Tom Wilson and the Kings Kyle Clifford would drop the gloves at 14:40 of the middle period. The second period would end scoreless, with the Kings holding onto the 3-0 lead. The Kings led in shots on goal, 21-13 through two periods of play.

The Caps would get their first extra man attack of the game at 1:01 of the final frame, and the Caps would capitalize. T.J. Oshie would knock-in a rebound at 1:46 of the final frame.

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Nicklas Backstrom would close the gap to 3-2 at 11:02 of the final frame.

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Dmitry Orlov would tie the game on a dazzling offensive attack at 16:38.

The third period would end with the game tied 3-3.

OVERTIME
The Kings would win it on a goal by Carter in overtime. Drew Doughty would circle and wait and ultimately catch the Caps in a line change that led to a 3-on-2 attack for the win.