News

Preview: Washington Wraps Up On West Coast In Los Angeles

By NoVa Caps·
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings close-out their season series under the bright lights of Hollywood on Monday night. Washington beat Los Angeles for the sixth time in their past seven attempts by a score of 4-3 at Capital One Arena on October 22. Action from Crypto.com Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 10:30 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Washington: end four-game road trip (2-1-0), continue stretch where they play six of seven away from home

Los Angeles: wrap up three-game homestand (2-0-0), continue span where they host 10 of 11 games

RECORDS

Washington: 31-27-6/.531 points percentage – sixth in Metropolitan Division, tied for 11th in Eastern Conference; 16-14-3 on road (12th in NHL)

Los Angeles: 36-20-8/.625 points percentage – tied for first in Pacific Division with Vegas Golden Knights (who have two games in hand on them), second in Western Conference (third in points percentage); 19-9-2 at home (10th)

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Washington: won three of their last four, including two straight, since season-long six-game regulation losing streak ended

Los Angeles: won three straight, is 11-3-2 since three-game regulation losing streak in mid-January

TEAM LEADERS

Washington

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has three goals, six points in his last four games, including a three-point outing (one goal) in Saturday’s 8-3 win over the San Jose Sharks, since a five-game scoring drought; Throwing out a two-goal, four-point performance in a 6-3 win over the New York Rangers on February 25, Kuznetsov, 30, has only one assist in the other six of a seven-game stretch; Since tallying just one goal in his previous 10, C Dylan Strome has two goals, six points in his last four, including a three-point (one goal) performance in San Jose; LW Conor Sheary snapped an 11-game scoring drought with an assist in San Jose; RW T.J. Oshie has five goals, eight points over five-game point-streak; LW Sonny Milano has two goals, four points in his last four after tallying just one helper in his previous nine; LW Anthony Mantha has just one assist in his last 15, including none over a current 10-game scoring drought; D Rasmus Sandin has six assists, seven points in last four, including three helpers in his Washington debut on Saturday; RW Tom Wilson has five goals, seven points in his last seven since returning from a seven-game injury absence

Los Angeles

  • RW Adrian Kempe (29 goals)
  • LW Kevin Fiala (44 assists, 66 points)
  • D Drew Doughty (26:19 TOI/game)

Notes: Fiala, 26, has 19 assists, 31 points in last 26, including a one-goal, two-point performance in Los Angeles’ 4-2 win over St. Louis Blues on Saturday; Kempe, 26, snapped a four-game scoring drought with a goal vs. St. Louis; Doughty, 33, has four assists in his last three since a five-game scoring drought concluded; C Anze Kopitar has five goals in his last three and 15 goals, 29 points in his last 24; C Philipp Danault has gone scoreless in three straight; RW Gabriel Vilardi has three goals, four points during three-game goal-scoring streak, four goals in his last five following four-game scoring drought; C Blake Lizotte has just one assist in his last seven; RW Arthur Kaliyev has gone scoreless in three straight and has just one goal, two points in his last eight; C Quinton Byfield is currently on a three-game assist-streak (three) since four-game scoring drought ended

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 WSH – 3.09 (19th)           LA – 3.31 (11th)

Goals-against per game:   WSH – 2.97 (13th)            LA – 3.34 (22nd)

Power Play:                          WSH – 21.1% (15th)         LA – 25.2% (3rd)

Penalty Kill:                         WSH – 82.2% (T-8th)     LA – 75.9% (22nd)

Shots-per-game:                 WSH – 31.6 (17th)            LA – 32.3 (3rd)

Shots-against per game:   WSH – 30.2 (10th)           LA – 28.3 (4th)

Faceoff-winning %:            WSH – 49.8% (18th)       LA – 52.7% (6th)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                  WSH – 50.92% (15th)     LA – 51.86% (6th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:             WSH – 51.24% (16th)      LA – 52.34% (10th)

5v5 SCF %:                           WSH – 50.96% (16th)     LA – 59.67% (1st)

5v5 Shooting %:                  WSH – 8.35% (18th)       LA – 8.25% (19th)

5v5 Save %:                          WSH – .912 (19th)           LA – .8997 (30th)

5v5 PDO:                              WSH – .995 (T-22nd)     LA – .982 (31st)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 32 — 19-19-4 (T-15th in wins), .910 save percentage (T-17th in NHL), 2.77 goals-against average (T-18th), five shutouts (T-1st) in 43 games this season; 9-6-3 (tied third-most wins vs. any franchise), .927 save percentage (fifth), 2.16 goals-against (third), three shutouts (second) average in 19 career games against former team, including 23-save performance (.885 save percentage) on October 22; played 19 games with Los Angeles in 2017-18 before getting traded to Arizona Coyotes, going 10-1-3 with a .932 save percentage, 2.10 goals-against average, three shutouts as a King

Los Angeles: Joonas Korpisalo, 28 — 12-11-3 (T-15th in wins), .913 save percentage (T-17th in NHL), 3.13 goals-against average in 29 games; acquired from Columbus Blue Jackets on March 1; made 24 saves on 26 shots (.923) in Los Angeles debut on Saturday; 3-2-2, .924 save percentage (fifth), 2.39 goals-against (fourth), one shutout in eight career games vs. Washington, including 30-save performance (.882) in Columbus’ 4-3 overtime loss to them at Nationwide Arena on January 31

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Washington

  • Carlson (upper-body, missed 29th straight game, out indefinitely)
  • Jensen (upper-body, second, status unknown)
  • RW Connor Brown (ACL, 61st, indefinite)
  • LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 65th, indefinite)
  • D Martin Fehervary (upper-body, second, status unknown)

Los Angeles

  • LW Trevor Moore (upper-body, seventh, indefinite)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Washington

Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Wilson
Mantha — Nicklas Backstrom — Craig Smith
Milano — Dylan Strome — Oshie
Sheary — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Sandin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Alexander Alexeyev — Matt Irwin
Gabriel Carlsson – Vinny Iorio

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: D Dylan McIlrath, C Aliaksei Protas

Los Angeles

Byfield — Kopitar — Kempe
Fiala — Danault — Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Iafallo — Lizotte — Vilardi
Carl Grundstrom — Rasmus Kupari — Kaliyev

Mikey Anderson — Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov — Matt Roy
Alexander Edler – Sean Durzi

Korpisalo
Pheonix Copley

Scratched: D Sean Walker, C Jaret Anderson-Dolan, RW Zack MacEwen

By Harrison Brown

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.
This entry was posted in News and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.