The Washington Capitals had a two goal lead, a two game winning streak and a winless opponent in town. By the end of Tuesday night, all three were gone. The Capitals fell to the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 at Capital One Arena, giving Los Angeles its first win of the season.
Washington started the way it wanted to. Ryan Leonard opened the scoring at 9:25 of the first period with a snap shot through a screen, and Cole Hutson added a power play goal at 18:35 to make it 2-0.
Then the period’s final minute and a half flipped the game. Adrian Kempe scored at 19:27, and Artemi Panarin tied it 31 seconds later, sending the teams to the locker room even at 2-2.
“They were opportunistic, and we didn’t score on our chances tonight,” Dylan Strome said.
The third period belonged to Los Angeles. Erik Gustafsson scored on the power play at 7:28 for the go ahead goal. Kempe added his second of the night at 11:35, and Scott Laughton hit the empty net at 18:15.
Spencer Carbery pointed to the special teams swing as the turning point, calling it “a pivotal moment” when Washington’s power play came up empty shortly before the Kings scored on theirs.
Panarin finished with a goal and two assists. Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for Los Angeles, while Logan Thompson stopped 21 shots for Washington.
The Kings improved to 1-4-2. The Capitals dropped to 5-4-0.
Los Angeles also lost forward Quinton Byfield to an upper body injury in the first period. Coach Peter Laviolette said Byfield will be evaluated Wednesday.
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