Top 3 Capitals studs against Kings

The Washington Capitals got a huge win last night against the Los Angeles Kings. It was a big bounce back from their loss Monday night to the San Jose Sharks. The road trip continues with the conclusion of the California portion tonight against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Capitals would hang on for a 2-1 win thanks to timely goals from the third line, a good performance in goal by a player we’ll talk about in this post (spoiler alert) and some calls by the refs that actually went in their favor. Yeah it was odd.

Here are the top 3 studs from the win:

#3 Anthony Mantha

You have to give the third line of Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichael, and Anthony Mantha credit. They were the entire offense of last night’s game. Protas had two assists on the night in which both were secondary.

For Mantha his goal came when McMichael fed him a pass on the two on one rush. Mantha got it and finished it off for his fourth goal of the season. Three of Mantha’s four goals have come in the opening period.

Mantha also had an assist on McMichael’s game winner which was his third multi point game of the season which is tied with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome for the most on the team.

#1 Charlie Lindgren

The number one stud and star of last night’s Capitals win over the Kings was none other than Charlie Lindgren. We said before the season that he would establish himself as the NHL’s best backup and so far he is proving us right. May have been our best player prediction ever.

Lindgren finished with 38 saves on 39 shots that he faced for a .974 save percentage. That included stopping all 13 shots he faced in the second period and all 15 shots he faced in the third period. The Caps were outshot 15-3 in that final period but Lindgren was a brick wall.

After the game, Lindgren told Al Koken of Monumental Sports Network:

“That’s a character win. We’re finding ways to get it done. …It’s fun winning hockey games like that. You can see the will and determination from the guys in front of me. That keeps me going. It fires me up.”

Lindgren’s 38 saves are the fifth most he has made in a game in his career. It was his fifth win of the season as he improves to 5-2-0 with a 2.30 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.

The Caps play the Ducks tonight at 10 p.m. eastern on Monumental Sports Network. Before we set the stage for that we have one more breakdown coming up from last night’s win.