The Los Angeles Kings will try to cool off Tom Wilson and the visiting Washington Capitals when the teams meet on Tuesday night.
Washington has won four straight and seven of eight following a brutal 2-6-2 stretch that briefly left the team out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Los Angeles has been piling up points as well during a 2-0-3 streak and has three games remaining on a four-game homestand.
The Capitals opened a four-game road trip Sunday with a 4-1 win at the New York islanders. In addition to the Kings, they play the San Jose Sharks (Wednesday) and Anaheim Ducks (Friday).
“You definitely don’t want to get behind the eight-ball,” goalie Logan Thompson said of the upcoming West Coast swing after the win. “This is a huge early two points. Just build off it and get ready for the next game because it’s only going to get harder.”
Thompson made 30 saves against New York to help Washington overcome a sloppy effort. Wilson scored twice and Alex Ovechkin picked up his 909th NHL goal, one of two empty-netters by the Capitals after the Islanders pulled within 2-1.
“The guys did a great job down the stretch,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t our best 60 (minutes) per se, but we did enough to get it done.”
Wilson leads the team in goals (15) and points (29). He has nine points (four goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak and passed Dave Christian (193) to move into eighth place on Washington’s all-time goals list.
Thompson and Charlie Lindgren will split the Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-backs. Sunday’s win was Thompson’s third straight and his 2.08 goals-against average is in the top five among goalies with 10 or more games played.
The Kings are coming off a 2-1 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. Anze Kopitar scored in regulation and Adrian Kempe netted the game winner with 1:02 remaining in overtime. Kempe also had an assist, and Anton Forsberg made 19 saves.
“Tonight, there wasn’t much for anybody,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “It’s a big moment, somebody’s got a score and I think he’s shown us over the years here that usually, if you’re going to bet on somebody, it would be (Kempe).”
Kempe has 10 career overtime goals, the second most in Kings history behind Jeff Carter (11).
Los Angeles continues to find itself in close contests as it improved to 4-2 in one-goal games in regulation. The Kings have already played 12 overtime/shootout games.
“It teaches you to play in tight games, but you don’t always want to be in those tight games,” Hiller said. “It’s hard on everybody. The players understand that they probably play a little more cautious than they would normally, when you’re that tight, so it’s been hard for us to get into a rhythm.”
The teams met in Washington two weeks ago with the Capitals winning 2-1 on goals from Ovechkin and Matt Roy. Kopitar scored for Los Angeles and Darcy Kuemper, the Kings’ likely starter on Tuesday, made 23 saves against his former team.
Both teams are struggling on the power play. Washington is ranked 26th, converting just 15.6% of opportunities, and Los Angeles is 28th with 14.1%.
–Field Level Media