The LA Kings were unable to round out their trip with a victory, as they dropped a 2-1 game in the District of Columbia against the Washington Capitals on Monday evening at Capital One Arena.
Former Kings defenseman Matt Roy opened the scoring for the hosts in unique fashion, as he redirected a shot past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper to open the scoring. Roy shook his way loose as he activated offensively and from an unfamiliar position on the ice, got a deflection on a point shot from forward Aliaksei Protas and in for his first goal of the season and an early 1-0 lead.
Inside the first two minutes of the second period, Washington made it 2-0 through forward Alex Ovechkin. After cycling the puck in the offensive zone, Ovechkin was left alone in front of Kuemper, took a feed from forward Connor McMichael and buried the 903rd goal of his NHL career to double the advantage for Washington at 2-0.
The Kings converted on their second power play of the game to get back to within a goal at 2-1. Attacking off the rush, forward Kevin Fiala distributed the puck to forward Corey Perry down the right wing. Perry then found forward Anze Kopitar driving the net and the captain buried from close range for his third goal of the season, bringing the visitors within a goal with 6:33 to play in the middle stanza.
The latter portion of the game saw a pretty hectic push for the Kings, as they outshot Washington 23-11 over the final 40 minutes, but the second goal never came, as the trip ended with a 2-1 defeat, rounding out a 4-1-0 record over the five games on the East Coast.
Hear from Fiala, defenseman Brian Dumoulin and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.
Kevin Fiala
Brian Dumoulin
On his impressions from tonight’s game overall
I mean, I thought we worked. They made it hard on us, they defended really hard, blocked a lot of shots. You could tell they were desperate. I loved our fight, I thought we fought hard to the end. Obviously, it’s not easy circumstances, but I’m proud of our group and our roadtrip.
On if he felt the team had the legs and the sharpness they needed in Game 5 of 5
We were working. I mean, they did a good job of hanging onto pucks down there, they’re a big, strong team, they got to the net really hard. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we gave ourselves a chance.
On his experience playing on the right side
It’s always tough in some situations, it’s good in some situations. I played a lot last year on the right side and a lot through my career with Kris. So, it’s nothing I’m not used to, but always a little bit of adjustment, you get a little bit more comfortable as you play more.
On how his pairing with Mikey Anderson came together
Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, he’s really solid defensively. He talks a lot, makes good, solid plays, and you know what he’s going to do with the puck. He’s an easy guy to read off of.
On his impressions of the trip as a whole, ending 4-1-0
We’re starting to get an identity. I think everyone is starting to feel their roles and know what they have to do to bring to this team for us to win. Now, obviously we’ve got to establish ourselves here on home ice now.
Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from tonight’s game
First period was the difference in the game, that was clear. We had lots of energy in the second and third, so there’s no reason why we didn’t start with the same energy. We made some mistakes and I guess we got what we deserved.
On two goals against that were very preventable
Well, you leave, first of all, one guy wide open in front of our net, then you leave number eight wide open in front of our net, it’s just not going to end very well. There’s just two mistakes, big mistakes, and they buried them.
On Darcy Kuemper’s play to keep the Kings within reach
I didn’t think they had a lot of shots in the last 40 minutes, but what they had was high quality, and he made some really good saves. He gave us a chance. I thought their goalie made some big saves at the end too, but yeah, just not enough finish for us.
On Jacob Moverare’s first full game of the season
Yeah, I thought he was good. He reminded me exactly how he played last year. He was actually evasive a little bit on the breakout, solid defensively, blocked some shots. He just did what he typically does, so that was a really good performance for him.
On if he puts the start at all down to travel and the end of a long trip.
We wanted to win the game tonight. I’m disappointed. We play, we’ve got to win. That should be the mindset and I just didn’t like how we started. We finished fine, the puck didn’t go in for us, but we just dug too big of a hole.
Notes –
– Forward Anze Kopitar (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season tonight, his 10th goal and 21st career point (10-11=21) in 29 games played against the Capitals.
– All three of the captain’s goals have come on the man-advantage, the most power play goals by any Kings skater this season. Kopitar now has 127 power play goals in his two-decade career, tying Boston’s David Pastrnak for the eighth highest total by an active skater League-wide.
– The goal also counts as the center’s 451st (127-324=451) power play point (PPP), placing Kopitar within 10 PPP of tying Marcel Dionne (172-289=461) for the franchise record in the category.
– Forward Corey Perry (0-1=1) notched his fifth assist of the campaign on Kopitar’s power play goal. Perry has 21 career points (10-11=21) in 27 games played against the Washington Capitals.
– Winger Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) registered his sixth helper of the season. By picking up his team-leading fifth power play assist and seventh power play point (2-5=7) of the year, Fiala extends his point streak against the Capitals (4-2=6) to a fourth game, dating back to Jan. 7, 2024. The Swiss forward has notched a total of 15 points (6-9=15) in 17 career games against Washington.
The Kings will travel back to California tonight and will have a full day off tomorrow. The team will return to the ice on Wednesday, November 19 at Toyota Sports Performance Center.
