Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Kings

The Washington Capitals take on the Los Angeles Kings tonight at Crypto.com Arena in the second game of their five game road trip. This game is also the second of three straight games in California.

The Kings sit at third place in the Pacific Division with a 13-3-3 record with 29 points. Certainly a much better team this year. The Capitals meanwhile are 10-6-2 with 22 points. That’s good for fourth in the Metropolitan Division and third in the wild card. Better than expected for sure.

Here are the top 3 key players to watch tonight:

#3 Dylan Strome

Dylan Strome is expected to suit up for his 100th career game as a Washington Capital tonight. Since joining them at the start of the 2022-23 season, the center leads the Capitals in games played with 99 as well as second in goals with 31, assists with 44, and points with 75.

The downside to Strome is that he has a shooting percentage of 21.1 that could regress if the Capitals struggle. The Kings have a 2.37 goals against average while their defense has only allowed 27.7 shots on net per game.

Keep an eye on Strome because if he can get going maybe the offense will which has struggled throughout the season. We’ll see.

#2 Evgeny Kuznetsov

Evgeny Kuznetsov’s play has improved of late. He scored the Capitals’ lone goal on Monday night at the San Jose Sharks for his fourth goal of the season. Three of Kuznetsov’s four goals on the season have come on the road which makes sense considering he has said he prefers road games over home games.

Kuznetsov is ranked fourth among NHL forwards in ice time per game averaging 21:43 minutes of ice time. He’s also tied for third on Washington in goals and tied for fourth in points with nine.

Kuznetsov ranks seventh in Capitals franchise history in points with 560 in his career. He’s two assists shy of Mike Gartner (392 assists) for the fifth most assists in franchise history.

Since his rookie season in 2013-14, Kuznetsov ranks third on Washington in goals with 169, assists with 391, and points with 560. In addition, Kuznetsov’s 386 even strength points during that span rank second on the Caps behind Alex Ovechkin’s 487.

In 17 games against the Los Angeles Kings, Kuznetsov has recorded 15 points with six goals and nine assists. He’s certainly on his way to passing his point total from last season if he can keep it up and maintain a level of consistency. Caps need it.