Dec. 2 vs. Los Angeles Kings at crypto.com Arena
Time: 10:30 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals (15-9-2)
Los Angeles Kings (12-6-7)
The California portion of the Caps’ four-game road trip begins on Tuesday night in Los Angeles against the Kings. Tuesday’s tilt concludes the season series between the long ago Norris Division rivals; Los Angeles is the first Western Conference club to conclude its season series with the Caps in ’25-26.
Tuesday’s game is also the front end of a set of back-to-backs for Washington. The Caps fly to San Jose immediately after Tuesday’s game for a Wednesday date with the Sharks. Washington will then return to Southern California to finish the trip on Friday in Anaheim.
Washington’s journey began on Long Island, where the Caps claimed their fourth straight victory on Sunday afternoon, 4-1 over the Islanders. Logan Thompson made 30 saves and Tom Wilson had three points – including a pair of goals – in a game that was closer than the final count would indicate. Half of Washington’s offensive output came in the form of a pair of empty-net goals, one in each of the game’s last two minutes, from Aliaksei Protas and Alex Ovechkin, respectively.
Sunday’s game wasn’t the prettiest the Caps have played this season. But they were opportunistic; Wilson’s first goal came a dozen seconds into Washington’s first power play of the game, and it came off a smart and sublime feed from Ovechkin, whose 12 primary assists – of a season’s total of 13 – are tops on the team.
Wilson’s second goal came in the second period when he put some forechecking heat on the Isles in their end of the ice, and New York netminder Ilya Sorokin unwisely tried to slip an outlet feed past him; the Caps winger flagged it down and made a deposit in the New York net.
The lone Islanders goal of the game came on a rebound during a third period power play. The Caps have taken two of the three meetings between the two Metro Division rivals to date, and they’ve outscored the Isles by a combined 6-1 at 5-on-5 in those three contests.
“I just didn’t think we had great jump today, to be honest with you,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I just felt like that pace in the offensive zone and ability to skate out of pressure, [and to] keep second, third, fourth pucks alive, just was not there. So, we’ll look at it.
“I’m probably going to chalk it up – when you go back through the film – to just our ability to chase down pucks, get a second, or third [puck], win a few races, whether it’s with our [defensemen] or forwards. And then just a little bit of execution; it was a little bit sloppy with our passing and plays to keep that second and third puck alive, where we end up throwing it away or bobbling or overhandling it, and now they get a tick on it and now it’s going out of the zone.
“I didn’t think we were very good in the offensive zone. We had a few shifts, but not nearly up to our standard in that department.”
Grabbing the first game of a trip like this, in which Washington plays four games in six nights and had a six-hour flight to the west coast immediately after taking down the Islanders, is a big step.
“Yeah, it’s huge,” says Thompson. “You definitely don’t want to get behind the eight ball. So this is a huge early two points, and just build off it and get ready for the next game, because it’s only going to get harder.”
Sunday’s win allowed the Caps to finish the month of November with a 9-4-2 mark, following a more pedestrian 6-5-0 October record. December brings another 14 games (six at home and eight on the road), and the Capitals will hit the midway mark of the season on New Year’s Day in Ottawa.
After arriving in Los Angeles late Sunday night, the Caps took a well-deserved and needed day off on Monday.
In the first meeting between the two teams on Nov. 17 in the District, the Caps conquered the Kings by a 2-1 count on a 30-save performance from Charlie Lindgren. Lindgren made former King Matt Roy’s goal early in the first and Ovechkin’s tally early in the second stand up in a victory over former Caps goaltending partner Darcy Kuemper, now in his second tour of duty with the Kings.
That loss to the Caps in DC was the Kings’ first blemish in a six-game trip, and it came in the fifth game of the journey. Los Angeles pulled a point in a shootout loss at San Jose to finish the trip with a strong 4-1-1 mark. The Kings have scratched at least a point from each game since, going 2-0-2.
On the season, the Kings have played beyond 60 minutes in nearly half – 12 of 25 – of their games to date. After winning their first shootout decision of the season, they’ve dropped five straight and are 1-5 in the skills competition. Los Angeles has fared far better in overtime, going 4-2.
Los Angeles is one of the better road teams (9-2-4) in the League but is just 3-4-3 in its first 10 home games this season. Most recently, the Kings claimed a 2-1 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks here on Saturday on 19 saves from Anton Forsberg and Adrian Kempe’s OT winner.
