King(s) Of The Highway – The Los Angeles Kings are in the District tonight, bringing their road show to Capital One Arena on the fifth stop of a six-game road trip. Los Angeles has run the table on the trip to date, winning each of the first four games. The Kings have been road warriors all season long; they’re 9-1-2 on the road this season, and they’re seeking to extend their road point streak to 11 straight games (8-0-2) tonight in Washington.
The Kings have had a pair of previous 11-game point streaks on the road in their history. Los Angeles went 11-0-1 over a dozen road games in 2023-24 and it forged a 6-0-5 mark – back when the “5” represented “ties” rather that OT or SO losses – in 1974-75, the Caps’ first season in the circuit.
In 2023-24, the Kings opened the season with 11 straight road victories before taking an overtime loss in their 12th road game of the campaign.
Los Angeles’ ’74-75 road streak also began at the outset of the season, and that one intersected with the early days of the Capitals’ existence. The Kings began that season by going 2-0-3 on a season-opening five-game trip, and the fourth stop of the journey was a 1-1 tie against Washington on Oct. 15, 1974, the first home game in Caps’ history and the first standings point the team earned in its history.
In The Middle Of It All – With P-L Dubois out of the Washington lineup on a long-term basis, the Caps are dealing with a sizeable hole in the middle of their lineup. We can make a legitimate case for Dubois having one of the best seasons any two-way NHL center has had in the last two decades last season, and it’s not surprising that the Caps are struggling in his absence; they also struggled prior to his arrival.
During the finale of the Caps’ recent four-game road trip in Florida, Caps coach Spencer Carbery shifted his forward lines, and one of the results of those alterations was rookie Justin Sourdif being installed in the middle of a line with Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson. During Dubois’ excellent first season in Washington in 2024-25, he played frequently with Protas and Wilson, though he played even more with Connor McMichael and Wilson.
There haven’t been a lot of bright spots for the Caps of late – their 2-6-2 mark in their last 10 games leaves them at the bottom of the League over that stretch – but the early returns on Sourdif in the middle of a top six line for the Caps have been good.
Sourdif logged 15:07 on Saturday against New Jersey – each of his linemates was upwards of the 20-minute mark for that game – while winning 11 of his 18 face-offs (61 percent) and putting up positive possession numbers for the game while going up against one of the Devils’ top two lines for most of the night. That’s the basic job description/assignment, but Dubois took it to another level by also being a catalyst for generating offense at 5-on-5 within the shutdown role, a real rarity in the NHL.
While the Caps certainly need to increase their scoring rate at all strengths, their sturdy and stingy defense is the reason they’ve had a chance to earn points in virtually every game they’ve played this season, so it’s critical not to let that aspect of their game slip while trying to chase offense.
“Honestly, he’s been great,” says Wilson of having Sourdif in the middle of his line. “Right from the first shift together, it seemed to be an easy chemistry. He likes to spend time with the puck, and Pro and I can get in on the forecheck, get it back, win battles and get the puck into his hands, and he’s crafty with it.
“We obviously have a lot of responsibility, winning draws in the [defensive] zone, making our way down to the other end and trying to chip in offensively, and his transition to the line has been good so far. And if we keep doing those things and playing the way we are, the puck will start going in for sure.”
Sourdif arrived in Washington with all of four games of NHL experience, and the 23-year-old British Columbia native has skated in each of the Caps’ first 18 games this season. After starting the season on the right side of a line with Brandon Duhaime and Nic Dowd, Sourdif has migrated to the middle of the ice, where he played for most of his first two seasons as a pro in the Florida system.
“I just try to have the same mindset coming into every game,” says Sourdif. “And it’s just being quick to pucks on the forecheck, trying to create turnovers, and obviously make plays for my linemates, whether that’s the giving me a nice pass and me converting, or just trying to use my feet to create open space and give them a pass, or battling at the net front. I try to do the same thing every game; I think I’m using my feet a little more nowadays and I think that’s going to help me with my confidence and my ability to get out of tight areas in the corners.”
Even when he is not on the ice, Sourdif is absorbing all he can from watching and learning from his teammates. His brief apprenticeship on the right side of the Dowd line also gave Sourdif a bit of a crash course on playing against top six NHL lines.
“Even playing less minutes [than in the AHL], I still learn a lot just by watching guys during the game, the plays they make and the way they use their brain in certain areas,” he says. “I scan a lot; I just watch them on the ice and look for little details that they do and add that to my game.
“And as far as playing against the other team’s top six, when I was playing on the wing there with Dowd and Duhaime, oftentimes we’d be out against the other team’s top line. It’s just limiting their time and space, get on pucks first and play them hard. If you give them space, obviously that’s what they want, and they’re going to make plays. You learn how to play against those type of guys, and I’m just going to continue playing as hard as I can.”
Eminence Front – During their current 2-6-2 stretch, the Caps have averaged 2.5 goals per game, ranking 29th in the NHL over that span. As you’ve likely heard by now, the Caps’ analytics aren’t nearly as dire over those 10 games. Washington has controlled 55.66 percent of all 5-on-5 shot attempts across that span, second in the NHL behind only Carolina, which suffered the setback in one of the Caps’ two victories in those 10 games.
While the “eye test” has taken a back seat to analytics in many aspects of the game over the last decade or two, these two aging eyes are seeing a reasonable amount of pucks at our near opposing net fronts of late, but the Caps seem to be lacking in the bounces required to get them on their sticks and into the net.
Caps coach Spencer Carbery is a believer in analytics, so we asked him what he was seeing in that regard.
“The one stat that I look at is basically secondary chances,” says Carbery. “So, a chance happens – a shot – and you’re able to get that puck back and attack quickly. Usually that measures either a rebound or maybe it squirted to the corner, and you pass it out quickly and you get another opportunity.
“I think those are huge. When we’re playing well, usually I read our report at the end of the night, and we’ve got maybe like five or six of those in a night. Because what it means is, not only are we getting to rebounds, second pucks, you’re putting the goaltender in a vulnerable spot. And that’s the key for me, because the goalies are so good nowadays, that usually your initial shot is stopped 93% of the time – or whatever it is – no matter where it’s from; I’m talking you’re right in the slot staring the guy in the eyes.
“So, how many secondary pucks can you create to now make the goalie have to move multiple times? And I think that’s where you can get into some really, really dangerous opportunities.”
Wilson is one of those guys who is typically around the net front in the offensive zone, and he scores and generates a fair amount of offense from that area. He’ll take the analytics with a grain of salt, but he knows the importance of those second pucks and the bounces needed to bury them.
“It’s one of those things if you’re winning games and your analytics aren’t good, people will focus on that,” says Wilson. “If you’re not winning games and your analytics are good, it doesn’t really matter, because you’re not winning games. So, the analytics are something that people look at, and it can be a guide to how people want to play and stuff.
“But at the end of the day, we need more dangerous looks. We need to put the puck in the back of the net, and those pucks that are hitting the post or laying in the crease, we’ve just got to find a way to make it happen. Analytics or not, we’ve got to pull some wins our way. So that’s our focus right now.”
In The Nets – After Logan Thompson started each of Washington’s last four games, Charlie Lindgren will be back in the crease for the Caps tonight against the Kings. Tonight’s game marks Lindgren’s first appearance since a 5-3 loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Nov. 6. He is seeking his 60th win with Washington, which would move him past Michael Neuvirth (59) for ninth place on the Caps’ all-time wins ledger.
Lifetime against Los Angeles, Lindgren is 1-1-0 in two appearances – both starts – with a 2.00 GAA and a .939 save pct.
Anton Forsberg authored a 17-save shutout on Saturday night against the Senators in Ottawa, so we are expecting to see ex-Caps goalie Darcy Kuemper back between the pipes for Los Angeles tonight. On the season, Kuemper is 7-3-3 with a shutout, a 2.44 GAA and a .903 save pct. in 13 appearances, all starts.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Kuemper is 2-3-0 with a shutout, a 2.44 GAA and a .922 save pct. in five appearances, all starts.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Capitals and the Kings might look on Monday night in DC:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
24-McMichael, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
21-Protas, 34-Sourdif, 43-Wilson
72-Beauvillier, 29-Lapierre, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Healthy Extras
15-Milano
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
Injured/Out
80-Dubois (lower body)
LOS ANGELES
Forwards
40-Armia, 11-Kopitar, 9-Kempe
22-Fiala, 55-Byfield, 14-Laferriere
37-Foegele, 24-Danault, 12-Moore
39-Malott, 15-Turcotte, 10-Perry
Defensemen
44-Anderson, 2-Dumoulin
6-Edmundson, 92-Clarke
43-Moverare, 5-Ceci
Goalies
35-Kuemper
31-Forsberg
Healthy Extras
43-Moverare
79-Helenius
96-Kuzmenko
Injured/Out
8-Doughty (lower body)
