Caps Stop Home to Host Kings
Washington finishes its season's series with Los Angeles on Sunday night in the District
After playing three games on the road in the last week, the Caps make a quick stop at home to do some laundry and to host the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night. After Sunday's contest with L.A., the Caps are back on the road for two games against Metropolitan Division opponents Philadelphia and the New York Islanders, respectively, before the NHL pauses from Dec. 24-26 for its annual three-day holiday break.
Washington enters Sunday's game with the Kings on the heels of an extremely uplifting team win over the Jets in Winnipeg on Friday night. Playing without seven key regular players - including three of the team's top four centers - the Caps banded together for a 5-2 win over the Jets to finish the trip 2-0-1.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 40 of 42 shots he faced in the game to record his second straight victory; he accounted for both victories on the three-game tour. Five different players scored for Washington, including Daniel Sprong and Conor Sheary, both of whom scored for the second time in as many games.
"He was awesome for us," says Sheary of Vanecek. "They had some 2-on-1s, some odd-man rushes, and some point blank chances that he seemed to be all over, and he didn't give them much net to shoot at. He's been grinding through practices hasn't gotten too many games lately, but it's great to see him battle and get us get us those two points."
Washington hasn't had a full and healthy lineup for any of its 30 games - 11 different players have missed a combined total of 108 man-games this season - but it has managed to pick up at least a point in 25 of those games thus far. The Caps' point percentage rate of .717 is third best in the NHL going into Saturday's slate of NHL activity.
"It's just leadership from the top," says Sheary. "We get the same message every day from the coaches, just work hard and play your role. And young guys have stepped up and into bigger roles. Our top players - when they're in the lineup and when they're healthy - have contributed in a big way.
"I think it's just a full team effort every night. It doesn't seem like we've had a full roster since maybe the first game of the year, and even then we didn't, so it's just a next man up mentality. It's just going out there and working hard and sticking within the system. I think everyone's bought into that this year."
Sunday's game against the Kings closes out the season's series between the two teams. Last month in Los Angeles, Ilya Samsonov became the first Washington goaltender ever to pitch a shutout in Los Angeles when he stopped all 34 shots he faced in a 2-0 Caps win over the Kings. Garnet Hathaway scored both goals in that Nov. 17 contest.
For Sunday's game, the Caps expect to have the services of center Nic Dowd and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. Both players returned from COVID-19 protocol on Dec. 15 in Chicago, but then returned home to D.C., as Canadian regulations did not permit their entry into the country for Friday's game against Winnipeg.
Washington will catch the Kings on the second night of a set of back-to-back games. The Kings spent Saturday night in Carolina, where they absorbed a 5-1 beating at the hands of the Canes. Despite playing without six players who are currently in COVID-19 protocol, Carolina had all the offense it would need to win Saturday night's contest before it was three minutes old, and the Hurricanes breezed the rest of the way.
The Kings have been streaky this season. They've already had a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) followed immediately by a seven-game winning streak and then immediately followed by a five-game slide (0-3-2).
Los Angeles reaches the end of a four-game road trip on Sunday in the District. The Kings are 1-1-1 on the trip to date, with the lone victory coming over the Panthers on Thursday.
