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Takeaways From Capitals Impressive 2-1 Victory Over High-Flying Kings

By Jon Sorensen·


The Washington Capitals outplayed the San Jose Sharks and played well enough to deserve the win, but lost 2-1. Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings was the complete opposite. The Caps were outplayed by the Kings, but buckled down defensively, and Charlie Lindgren came up with some monumental saves to hold the Capitals’ 2-1 lead. 

He ended the evening with 38 saves and had a milestone of his own. Washington’s netminder improved to 5-1-0 in the month of November, which equated to a .833 winning percentage, which is a franchise record during the month.

“It was a big win, certainly. To come into this building against one of the best teams in the league to perform the way that we did through the first two periods and then just to defend our butts off for that third period,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame. “[Lindgren] bailed us out on a number of occasions. Hang on, fight through, another character win. We’ve had a few of those this year but this on the road against a team like that is a big win.”

The Caps (14-3-2) snapped a two-game losing skid and also ended Los Angeles’s five-game win streak. 

Here is what stood out. 

Charlie Lindgren Sensational; Defensive Commitment.

Lindgren once again essentially stole the game for the Capitals. Washington was heavily outshot 39-15 in the game and was outshot in all three periods. Lindgren’s acrobatics came in the third period, where the Kings were piling on the pressure. 

“So many different saves in different ways. Long range, flank one timers,” Carbery said. “Phenomenal performance to get us two points tonight.”

However, Wednesday’s low-scoring affair was not just the Lindgren show. The Capitals did a really good job protecting the house and keeping the Kings to the outside, whenever they gained entry into the offensive zone.

The defensive structure really started to take shape in the second period. The Capitals’ blue line did an outstanding job taking away passing lanes with their sticks and boxing out in front of Lindgren. 

Despite the Kings tilting the ice in the third period, outshooting the Capitals 15-3 in the final frame, the Caps were still committed to sacrificing the body and clogging the middle of the ice. 

Rasmus Sandin came up with some big blocks late along with Beck Malenstyn. No stop was bigger when he laid down in front of a wide open net to block Vladislav Gavrikov’s backdoor shot.

“You can go down our whole roster tonight [from] top to bottom. Guys doing the little things to get it done. We had some huge pass breakups there, some huge blocks. That’s what you need to do, especially against really good teams,” Lindgren said. “It takes every single guy. You can’t really have any passengers in a game like tonight, so it’s just a huge win by our guys.”

The Capitals ended the evening with 18 blocked shots. 

Third Line Magic

The Caps new third line composed of Anthony Mantha, Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas was buzzing right from the drop of the puck. Along with getting both goals for D.C., the trio was doing a lot of good things in the offensive zone. They were strong on the forecheck and coming away with pucks in the corners. 

“I think just playing with those two big bodies there. I notice we win a lot of puck battles and I think it showed on my goal there,” McMichael said. “We were all over them winning second chance pucks and using our big frames, myself included.”

McMichael especially was outstanding. He had a great backcheck in the second period and also led a rush up ice on the same shift. He was creating lots of plays and continues to play with so much confidence. 

Meanwhile, his pass on the Mantha goal was a thing of beauty. 

One thing that stood out about Protas was his puck protection. On the Mantha goal, he noticed that a LA defenseman was coming towards him, so he turned his back to keep the puck away from him and fed a perfect pass to McMichael.

The line had 10 scoring chances, six of those coming in the high danger areas.

First Line Ineffective

While the Capitals ended up earning two points, the top six continued to struggle. The top line of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson only combined for three shots at even strength. On the other side of the puck, the trio was on the ice for nine shots against and were sometimes too soft with their clears.

They did however have some chances, combining for four scoring chances, two of which were high-danger opportunities, but it is still not the level where they need to be at.

But these numbers are just simply not going to cut it for players that are getting paid a lot of money to score at a high rate. Ovechkin is now goalless in four straight games; Wilson does not have a point in three straight and Kuznetsov only has two points (one goal, one assist) in his last five contests.

Notable Numbers and Observations

  • Give a lot of credit to video coaches Brett Leonhardt and Emily Engal-Natzke for catching that offsides on the would-be tying goal from Anze Kopitar in the third. 
  • The Caps had six high danger chances in the second period and 13 scoring chances in the middle frame (5v5). 
  • The Caps did not have a power play but the penalty kill was outstanding going 3-for-3
  • Washington had six giveaways and three takeaways

The Capitals will return to action on Thursday to take on the Anaheim Ducks to conclude the California portion of their western road trip. 

By Jacob Cheris