Two days after dropping a game to the NHL’s worst team this season, the Washington Capitals took down one of the league’s best, defeating the LA Kings 2-1 on Wednesday night. Both of the Caps’ goals came on the backs of the third line, with Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichael, and Anthony Mantha all recording two-point nights.
Head coach Spencer Carbery was quick to commend the trio postgame:
“Best line by far–not even close,” he said. “Carried us offensively.”
“I think we’ve been playing good connected hockey,” Mantha noted Wednesday night. “We’re close support to each other. We’re creating plays. We’re hard on pucks in the o-zone and it creates good things.”
The line stepped in Wednesday to fill the gaps amidst a top-six still struggling to get on the scoreboard. At five-on-five, they were the Capitals’ only line to outshoot (7-5) or outchance (9-4) their opponents, recording six high-danger chances to the Kings’ two.
McMichael emphasized the impact of physicality on that success.
“I think just playing with those two big bodies: I noticed we win a lot of puck battles and I think it showed on my goal there,” he said. “We were all over them, winning second-chance pucks and using our big frames, myself included, to take it to the net.”
Although the game ended up in their favor, the trio faced a rocky start to the night. Los Angeles forward Arthur Kaliyev would open up the scoring midway through the first, with Protas taking responsibility for the missed coverage. That misstep would drive Protas to help erase the lead.
“If you talk about that game, basically I give up the first goal,” he said. “So we needed a good response. We just needed to think more about offense, move our feet, because we got the really fast opening so we’ve got to think faster and just move our feet. So I think that’s probably part of our success today.”
Carbery, too, pointed out the early-game error but praised Protas and his linemates for their resiliency.
“They’re on for the first goal against, which I wasn’t happy about,” he said. “Pro misses some assignment there on Kaliyev coming down main street on that rebound. But credit to him and those guys: they go minus one early in that game and now that game easily can…but they turned it around quickly. Generated a scoring chance their next shift out. They were the difference offensively for us tonight and our best line.”
Anthony Mantha tied the game at one less than four minutes later, and Connor McMichael would gain the lead late in the second period. While the third line provided much-needed offense, goaltender Charlie Lindgren put up a 38-save effort to hold the Kings to a single goal on the night.
“He was unreal again tonight,” McMichael said of Lindgren’s play. “I think every game he’s played this year, he’s given us a chance to win and even more. You can’t say enough good things about how well Chucky’s playing right now, and we’re just trying to put out a good effort for him.”
“Phenomenal,” Carbery remarked. “So many different saves in different ways: long range, flank one-timers, Doughty I remember. Phenomenal performance to get us two points tonight.”
Let's do it again.#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/YHJ4ASCWFV
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 30, 2023
With a 5-1-0 record in November, Lindgren has been one of Washington’s strongest players in recent weeks and earned first star of the game for his showing on Wednesday.
“I’m feeling obviously really good. I’m playing with a lot of confidence,” he said, later adding, “certainly I’m feeling really good physically and mentally. And I like where I’m at right now. So just got to keep that going. Can’t get complacent, obviously.”
With Wednesday night’s win, the Capitals became just the third team to beat the LA Kings in regulation all season. The team won’t have too long to celebrate the win, however, with the second half of their back-to-back set to begin against the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
