The Capitals face the Kings at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The Washington Capitals are looking to put an end to a two-game slide when they take on the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night in the first half of a California back-to-back. All the while, they'll look to stop their scoring woes.
Washington has dropped the last two games following a five-game winning streak where the team had seemed to figure things out. Special teams remain a glaring issue, with the power play scoring on just five percent of its chances this season and the PK giving up four goals in the last two outings.
However, 5-on-5 offense is the biggest problem that needs fixing, as the Capitals haven't been able to catch much of a break when it comes to finding twine. As a result, the lines will shift a bit again, with Nicolas Aube-Kubel coming back in as Hendrix Lapierre draws out, head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters.
It's unclear what those forward combinations will be, and it also remains to be seen if head coach Spencer Carbery will shuffle the defensive pairings again with all six regulars finally back in the lineup and healthy at the same time.
"We’re trying to work with our guys on how do we create more and if we’re able to create more, good, but how do we make good on the quality chances that we’re creating, and how do we take advantage? it’s not an easy answer; it’s really, really difficult to score in this league. It’s why players get paid a lot of money to score goals," Carbery said. "For whatever reason — I know I've talked about this at the beginning of the — our guys throughout our lineup have been really, really snakebitten. Other than Stomer, there’s no one really that’s clipping at a real high level from a production standpoint and a finishing standpoint, which makes it difficult. it’s just tough to win when you’re not scoring.”
Washington will have Charlie Lindgren manning the net against the Kings, as the 29-year-old will get the first game of the back-to-back. Darcy Kuemper started on Monday, stopping 21 of 23 shots in the loss, and he will likely get the second game of the back-to-back against the Anaheim Ducks in just 24 hours.
Puck drop is at 10:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena.