Ilya Samsonov made 34 saves for his second shutout of the season and fifth in the NHL for the Capitals (10-2-5), who were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday and are 5-0-1 in their past six games.
"I think that he's looking for that game too, so it was nice for him to come in, back-to-back," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said of Samsonov, who improved to 5-0-1 this season in his second start in the past seven games. "And there was a lot of volume, especially in the first period. They were just from the outside. But that being said, you got to be dialed in and you got to be in your crease and on top of it. There's a lot of action. There could be tips, it could be rebounds, so there's a lot going on."
Jonathan Quick made 36 saves for the Kings (8-6-2), who had an eight-game point streak end (7-0-1). Los Angeles had won four straight at home.
"This game was a system battle," Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. "They're a good structure team, we stuck to what we do, and at the end of the day they were the ones that found the bounces and capitalized. We had some chances, but that's how it goes sometimes."
Hathaway was alone at the back post to knock in John Carlson's bouncing pass from the left face-off circle at 16:30 of the third period to put the Capitals up 1-0. Evgeny Kuznetsov got the secondary assist for his pass to find Carlson trailing coming into the Kings zone.
"You know, on that first one, I just happened to be the guy that had the last touch on the puck," Hathaway said. "Tonight, what a play by [Kuznetsov] to John, and that's something we've been talking about, trying to get players to the net but also finding a backdoor presence as well. And John is a skill player, so I just had to stand there and put my stick on the ice."
