Los Angeles Kings (23-27-5 51pts) v. Washington Capitals (30-18-7 67pts)
Game Recap:
The Washington Capitals look to end their season long six game homestand with a victory, and it would be an early penalty by Michael Amadio that would give the Capitals the first power play opportunity of the game. The Capitals would not need much time as they would swarm the Los Angeles Kings as Alex Ovechkin would score his 38th goal of the season for the 1-0 lead. However, the Kings would respond quickly when Derek Forbort made an amazing pass to Austin Wagner to tie the game at one. The Capitals would get another power play opportunity when Alec Martinez would be called for holding, but the Capitals would not convert. The Kings would then get their first power play opportunity when Evgeny Kuznetsov would be galled for hooking, but the Capitals would hold the Kings shotless on the power play. The Capitals would eventually get the lead back when Brett Connolly would get his own rebound and roof it over Jonathan Quick, but it would be a Dmitry Orlov hooking penalty that would give the Kings a chance to tie the game up at two as Tyler Toffoli would score on the powerplay.
The Capitals would start the period by killing off the late Brett Connolly hooking call, but they would get hemmed into their own zone as the Kings would tire the Capitals and gain the lead for the first time this game when Oscar Fantenberg would blast a one timer for his second goal of the season. However the Capitals would respond quickly as Evgeny Kuznetsov would score off of a Tom Wilson rebound to tie the game at three a piece. The Capitals would then get the lead back as they would crash the net and create chaos for Quick and the Kings defense as Christian Djoos would poke the puck with one hand on his stick for his first goal of the season. the Capitals would not let up there as Michal Kempny and Jakub Vrana would connect to get Quick out of position and Vrana his 17th of the season.
For the third period both teams would play a more contained style of game that would feature both Austin Wagner and Evgeny Kuznetsov scoring their second goal of the game for their respective teams. However, it would be the Capitals holding on and winning 6-4 to end their six game homestand with a 4-1-1 record.
Lineups:
Los Angeles Kings:
Alex Iafallo — Anze Kopitar — Dustin Brown
Brendan Leipsic — Michael Amadio — Tyler Toffoli
Carl Hagelin — Adrian Kempe — Ilya Kovalchuk
Kyle Clifford — Trevor Lewis — Austin Wagner
Derek Forbort — Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez — Oscar Fantenberg
Dion Phaneuf — Paul LaDue
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Sean Walker
Injured: Jeff Carter (lower body), Jonny Brodzinski (upper body)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson — Nic Dowd — Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Christian Djoos
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Madison Bowey, Dmitrij Jaskin, Travis Boyd
First Period:
Kings Penalty – 2:10 – Michael Amadio 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals PPG – 3:07 – Alex Ovechkin (38) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (37) and TJ Oshie (16)
Kings Goal – 4:50 – Austin Wagner (6) from Derek Forbort (9) and Kyle Clifford (3)
Kings Penalty – 6:49 – Alec Martinez 2 minutes for Holding
Capitals Penalty – 11:54 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals Goal – 15:17 – Brett Connolly (13) from Andre Burakovsky (9) and Matt Niskanen (14)
Capitals Penalty – 15:38 – Dmitry Orlov 2 minutes for Hooking
Kings PPG – 17:22 – Tyler Toffoli (12) from Anze Kopitar (25) and Drew Doughty (26)
Capitals Penalty – 19:13 – Brett Connolly 2 minutes for Hooking
End of 1st – LA – 2 WAS – 2
Shots 10 12
Faceoffs 10 12
Hits 06 05
PP 1/2 1/2
Second Period:
Kings Goal – 3:42 – Oscar Fantenberg (2) from Alec Martinez (10) and Adrian Kempe (11)
Capitals Goal – 6:39 – Evgeny Kuznetsov (14) from Tom Wilson (12)
Capitals Goal – 10:31 – Christian Djoos (1) from Alex Ovechkin (25) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (38)
Capitals Goal -13:09 – Jakub Vrana (17) from Michal Kempny (13) and TJ Oshie (17)
Kings Penalty – 15:08 – Anze Kopitar 2 minutes for Holding
End of 2nd – LA – 3 WAS – 5
Shots 20 22
Faceoffs 14 24
Hits 10 12
PP 1/3 1/3
Third Period:
Kings Penalty – 6:58 – Anze Kopitar 2 minutes for High Sticking
Kings Goal – 10:25 – Austin Wagner (7) from Trevor Lewis (2) and Kyle Clifford (4)
Capitals Goal – 15:13 – Evgeny Kuznetsov (15) from Alex Ovechkin (26)
End of 3rd – LA – 4 WAS – 5
Shots 33 31
Faceoffs 25 34
Hits 18 14
PP 1/3 1/4
Next Up:
Washington (31-18-7 69pts) @ Columbus (31-20-3 65pts)
Los Angeles (23-28-5 51pts) v. Vancouver (25-24-7 57pts)
