Capitals beat Kings 3-1 to regain first place in Eastern Conference – Hockey Writers – Washington Capitals

Aliaksei Protas scored twice and Jakub Vrana had the game-winner as the Washington Capitals (23-8-2) beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. The Capitals regained first place in the Eastern Conference with 48 points, one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils. As for the Kings, they finished their seven-game road trip 3-2-2 and their next game will be against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

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Jakub Vrana and Kevin Fiala each scored a goal in their team's only power play of the game.

Recap of the game

The first 10 minutes of the first half saw back-and-forth battles in the neutral zone with neither team able to stop in the attacking areas. Both teams coming into the game were in the top five in allowing two goals or less to opponents so a rough, low-scoring game was on the cards.

Just 10 minutes later Pierre-Luc Dubois took advantage of a loose puck at the blue line, passed it to Aliaksei Protas and scored his 13th of the season to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead.

The second half was the only opportunity to play with power for each team. At 16:07 Trevor van Riemsdyk took a delay of game penalty. Seventeen seconds into the match for Makhosi, after sharing with Adrian Kempe, Fiala scored one goal to end the game as a draw. Later in the period at 7:23, the Capitals got a chance on the PP after Fiala got a delay of game penalty. After a layup attempt was blocked by the green line, Dubois took advantage of the opportunity to send a pass to Vrana who hit one off the post to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

Protas capped the win with an empty netter, his 14th goal of the season, at 0:54. Dubois had two assists on the night, giving him five points in the Capitals center's last five games. With an assist tonight, Brandt Clarke has three in his last five games for the Kings.

The Capitals will be flying to Boston tonight to face the Bruins tomorrow (Dec. 23), while the Kings will have six days off after a long road trip. Their next game will be against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (Dec. 28).