WASHINGTON — A trip’s worth of momentum and the Kings’ season-long road mojo finally hit a wall.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 903rd career NHL goal, Charlie Lindgren stopped 30 shots and the Washington Capitals held off the Kings, 2-1, on Monday night, snapping the visitors’ four-game winning streak.
Former King Matt Roy also scored for the Capitals, who ended a two-game losing skid to gain some traction in the standings.
Five games into a six-game trip, Anze Kopitar scored for lone goal for the Kings, who saw their 10-game road points streak halted and were handed just their second regulation road loss of the season.
Washington, which has been struggling to finish at 5-on-5, opened the scoring early, as Roy got to the front of the net and tipped Aliaksei Protas’ point shot past Darcy Kuemper. It was Roy’s first goal in 25 games, dating to last season.
In the second period, Ovechkin crashed the crease and got to the front of the net before burying a behind-the-net feed from Connor McMichael. Ovechkin, who now has goals in back-to-back games, also passed Gordie Howe for the most regular-season goal scored at a single venue in NHL history with his 442nd goal at Capital One Arena. Ovechkin, who has six goals this season, has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Kopitar pulled the Kings within one with his third goal of the season with 6:33 left in the second. He tapped in a backdoor feed from Corey Perry on the power play. Washington has now given up a power-play goal in three straight games and five of the last six.
The Kings rallied but couldn’t solve Lindgren, who earned his second win of the season after losing his last four starts (2-3-1).
Kuemper stopped 23 of 25 shots in defeat.
The Kings played their first game this season without defenseman Drew Doughty. He is week to week with a lower-body injury he suffered in Saturday’s game against the Ottawa Senators. Jacob Moverare took Doughty’s spot in the lineup and produced a minus-1 rating in 10:19 of ice time.
The teams will see each other again in a few weeks. Washington visits Crypto.com Arena on Dec. 2.
UP NEXT
The Kings close their six-game trip against the Sharks on Thursday at 7 p.m. in San Jose.