LA Kings defeat the Washington Capitals in playoff type atmosphere-March 2023
The LA Kings hosted the Washington Capitals at Crypto.com arena on March 6 with a chance to get even with Las Vegas at the top of the division. The Kings came out inspired and played a great all-around game with goalie Phoenix Copley notching his 20th win as a goalie. He was a quickest (no punt intended with Jonathan Quick just being traded and now with rival Vegas) to get 20 wins to start his career as a King. Washington took the lead early in the second with a scrap in from the net as Rasmus Sandin scored with a large contingency of Capital fans at the game. The Kings tied it on the go by Vladislav Gavrikov, his first goal with the team since being traded in the Quick deal. Philip Danault scored his 16th of the year deflecting a slap shot late in the second period to make it 2-1 entering the third period.
The Capitals got even as they obtained a two-man power-play and kept feeding scoring machine, Alex Ovechkin, who kept ripping slap shots from the left wing, his primary position on the power-play. The first few whizzed passed the goal, but then finally he scored on a high shot to tie the game at 2-2. The Kings took the lead back on a rush into the visitor zone with Mikey Anderson scoring past Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper, to give them the lead back. Adrian Kempe scored on an empty net goal (his 30th of the season) with a few seconds to go to make the final 4-2 as a team is looking primed and healthy as the playoffs approach. LA also obtained sold goaltender Joonas Korpisalo in the Quick trade but also relinquished a 1st round pick so they are in it for the present time to make a run at the Stanley Cup again.
More at www.nhl.com/kings.