Capitals get past Kings for 5th straight victory

LOS ANGELES -- Anthony Beauvillier scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and the Washington Capitals won their fifth straight game with a 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.

Beauvillier put the Capitals in front 2-1 at 1:18 of the third shortly after a Kings power play expired. Alex Ovechkin, who served Brandon Duhaime’s roughing minor, got the puck as he exited the penalty box and skated in on a 2-on-1 rush. He passed over to Connor McMichael, who faked a shot and got Darcy Kuemper to commit before finding a trailing Beauvillier for a tap-in into an open net.

“I thought great awareness by those two,” Beauvillier said. “Just going down the ice, 'Ovi' made a great play, and Mikey, such a good heads-up play. I just had to put it in.”

McMichael started the rush by blocking defenseman Brandt Clarke’s shot from the point. Clarke was playing on the top power-play unit after the Kings moved away from using five forwards.

“Well, they scored one and we scored zero, and they scored on the other side, so you can’t feel very good about it,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “They moved it around, so that part of it was good. ... But in the end, we gave one up basically on our power play, and I would say that was probably the difference.”

Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas also scored, and Logan Thompson made 22 saves for the Capitals (16-9-2), who are 8-1-0 in their past nine games.

Ovechkin had two assists to become the seventh player in NHL history with 800 career points on the road. He has 463 goals and 337 assists in 760 road games.

“You’ve got to stay with it, and sometimes it’s not pretty and it’s not glamorous and you can get frustrated, but you’ve got to stick with it. And at 1-1 or 0-0, you might not get a shot for 10 minutes, but you stick with it, and then you make one more play than they do, you capitalize on special teams, you get a save that you need, and you can get out with two points,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said.

Adrian Kempe scored for the second straight game, and Kuemper made 22 saves for the Kings (12-7-7), who had their five-game point streak end but have lost four of their past six games (2-1-3).

“It seems like every night we have a close game going into the third period, so, yeah, I think it’s really good building blocks for our team,” Los Angeles forward Alex Laferriere said. “I think for us it’s just about staying positive.”

The Capitals went ahead 1-0 during a power play at 14:50 of the first period. Wilson tapped the puck into an open net after Ryan Leonard’s pass redirected into the crease off the skate of Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson.

Washington went 1-for-2 on the power play for the second straight game after going 3-for-23 in its previous nine games.

“We’re scoring goals, that’s the most important thing, and we just have to stick with it,” said Ovechkin, who had the secondary assist on the play and has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak.

Kempe tied it 1-1 at 5:28 of the second period. Anze Kopitar skated in on a 2-on-1 rush, stopped in the right circle, and passed to a charging Kempe for a one-timer in front.

“I thought that’s as well as Kempe has skated, maybe, since I can remember this season,” Hiller said. “He really looked dangerous, and I think he if can keep doing that he’s going to get more of those types of looks.”

After Beauvillier gave the Capitals the lead back, Protas sealed the game with an empty-net goal at 18:18 of the third.

Following the win, the Capitals stayed on the ice to shake the hand of Kopitar, who will be retiring at the end of the season.

"(We) just wanted to congratulate him on an amazing career," Ovechkin said. "Obviously, it’s a sad moment, but it’s life, and it’s sad but I wish him all the best.

"It’s a show of respect, obviously. It’s a game, but after the whistle, it’s to show respect to him for all he’s done for this game, for this league, and it’s just about all of our respect."

NOTES: Ovechkin played his 1,518th career game to tie Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins) for the sixth-most with one franchise in NHL history. ... Wilson has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Leonard has an assist in three straight games.