FINAL – Kings 1, Capitals 3 – Anderson, Hiller

The LA Kings delivered a strong effort but were unable to collect a point in their final game before the NHL’s holiday break, falling by a 3-1 scoreline on Sunday afternoon in Washington.

The first period saw just one goal, scored by the Capitals, sending the game into the first intermission with a 1-0 scoreline in favor of Washington. Kings forward Alex Turcotte had a clearing attempt along the wall but his stick broke on the play, with Washington feeding Aliaksei Protas quickly the other way on a breakaway. The big, Belarussian forward picked his spot and buried blocker side on Kings netminder David Rittich, putting the hosts up 1-0.

Just over four minutes into the second period, the Kings tied the game at one with their first power-play goal of the trip, via forward Kevin Fiala. On the man advantage, Fiala and forward Adrian Kempe executed on a tight give-and-go play, with Fiala firing the one-timer from the right-hand circle off the Kings assist, past Washington netminder Logan Thompson and in for his 13th goal of the season.

Washington answered on a power-play goal as well, coming once again off a tough break for the Kings. A Warren Foegele clearing attempt was headed the length of the ice but hit an official and stayed in the zone, extending the possession for the Capitals. Two passes later, forward Jakub Vrana buried his sixth goal of the season, sending the hosts into the second intermission ahead 2-1.

Late in the third period, with the Kings chasing the game-tying goal, Washington picked the empty net, bringing the game to the final score of 3-1.

Hear from defenseman Mikey Anderson and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Mikey Anderson

Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from tonight’s game
Yeah, you guys watched it, I thought that was a pretty good effort. We had some chances for sure, just didn’t execute up top a couple times, probably should have pounded a couple when we had good traffic. I appreciate the effort from the guys, for sure.

On seeing that game decided on unlucky goals against, with the broken stick and puck off an official
I didn’t think we got a lot of those breaks tonight, same thing in the offensive zone, some chances that we had, but, I mean, that’s the way it goes. You get some, some nights they go your way and for sure we’ve had that for us this year, but not tonight.

On Samuel Heleinus, Akil Thomas and Andre Lee each playing larger roles tonight
We had a lot of different combinations out there, but those guys did run out pretty consistently. I thought Samuel Helenius had his best game as a King for sure. The three of them are comfortable with each other, they know each other, they’ve played together before, but to me, the player who jumped out tonight was Sammy Helenius.

On relying heavily on Mikey Anderson tonight and his level of performance
The thing about Mikey is, and we didn’t know this, he’s used to playing a fair amount of minutes with Drew, but his conditioning is outstanding. He didn’t drop off with all those minutes and then you tack on the 15 days and the seven games, he had lots, he was ready to go. What an engine and he’s really taking a step, we’ve talked about that more than once. He’s a really important player for us.

On heading into the holiday break for a deserved rest
They’ve earned it. Again, maybe he’s as proud of the team as I have been through the first part of the season is tonight, because we had some tough luck, we’ve lost some pretty key players and as I mentioned, I wanted to see how we played tonight, I knew we would play hard and we answered the bell.

Notes –
• Forward Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his team-leading fifth power play goal of the season, the 49th such goal
of the 28-year-old’s career. Fiala’s next tally on the man advantage will make him the fourth skater of Swiss nationality to record 50 power play goals (PPG), joining Roman Josi (64 PPG), Timo Meier (54 PPG), and Nino Niederreiter (51 PPG).
• Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) and defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) each recorded their 16th assists of the season with helpers on Fiala’s second period power play goal.The pair remain tied with eachother for the second most assists on the Kings.
• Clarke’s assist marks his first point against the Capitals in his third career matchup against the franchise.
• Forward Anze Kopitar played in his 1,407th regular season NHL game this evening in Washington, tying long-
time Capitals captain Dale Hunter (1,407 GP) for the 42nd most in League history.

The Kings have entered the NHL’s holiday break, running for the team from December 23 – 26. The Kings will return to the ice for practice on Friday, December 27 at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.