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
- LW Alex Ovechkin (35 goals, 60 points, 20:21 TOI/game) — TOI leader excluding Ds John Carlson, Nick Jensen
- C Evgeny Kuznetsov (39 assists)
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
🗣 DARCY KUEMPER WITH HIS 30th CAREER @pepsi SHUTOUT ‼️
With tonight's 27-save performance, Kuemper now leads the league in shutouts on the season with five under his belt. pic.twitter.com/VERa6ZnXAL
— NHL (@NHL) January 20, 2023
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
Just five of the last 15 different goal scorers (combined for 14 of 34 goals – 41.18%) for #ALLCAPS vs. #GoKingsGo over last six seasons are expected to play Monday (Oshie: 2, Kuznetsov: 4, Ovechkin: 6, Wilson: 1, Dowd: 1). Dowd is only scorer from WSH’s win in Oct. #CapsKings
— Harrison Brown (@HarrisonB927077) March 5, 2023
By Harrison Brown
Good lord I hate dot Com arena names. When do we get ClemsCowFeed.com Center, or Porno.com Place? For all that’s decent, please stop naming arenas after websites! I don’t even want to get into Climate Pledge Arena (shudder)
😂😂😂
Whoever pays the most gets their name on the building. Fork over the big bucks and they’ll play at KimRB Arena… I’m just wondering if the Kings got paid in crypto… if they did they got shafted… So the naming rights might be up for sale again soon — save your pennies!
There already is a KimRB Arena, but it looks suspiciously like my living room. It sees a lot of mini-stick hockey action, when I face off against my cat. She’s a lousy goalie. She’ll make a great save, then roll over and lick herself. And she’s easily distracted. Wave some cat treats at her, and it’s a wide open net. Let’s see Ovi score 5,000 goals in a season, like I have
Clay let in 4 of 12 shots before relinquishing the net and Stingrays lost 7-2. Bear had one assist and 4 sog, Has 2 sog.
That’s a steep drop from yesterday. Hockey is cruel!
Clay let in 4 of 12 then Tyler let in 3 of 12, both waaaaaay off their last performances Friday and Saturday. And I had though the offensive virus has departed. Nope.
Still not as bad as the game I watched. Tampa had 4 shots on goal in first, 10 in third, and zero in second as Canes beat them 6-0. Did have 22 PIM. Couldn’t count the stupid mistakes. Tampa’s last 3 games are all losses — 5-4, 5-4, 6-0. First time 3 consecutive losses giving up 5 or more goals since 2014. Hockey is cruel. At some point, what worked well before needs to be changed. Nothing lasts forever.
That Tampa team is coming back to Earth, though I’m not sure if it’s a case of them getting worse, or others getting better. Probably the latter, but there’s some awfully talented teams in the East.
They have to be exhausted. Cooper trying to spark with sitting vets. That didn’t work. They could have sold high too. It’s not just Caps.
There’s nothing in pro sports quite like the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s a two month slog of putting bodies thru a meat grinder. Getting hit with pucks, sticks and other bodies. And TB has done the whole 2 months 3 years in a row. We may not see another dynasty quite like the 80s Islanders again for awhile
Under Coop, Tampa has been a mental powerhouse. He admits he isn’t the best coach when it comes to Xs and Os. He knows how to get 100% out of his players, for them to work as a team. This year, this group has not gelled into that team. Whether it is their age or wear and tear (which, as you say, is horrific) or change of players over the past three years, he just doesn’t have the team we are used to seeing.