Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves for the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-0 win against the visiting Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
It’s the 34th career shutout and third of the season for Kuemper, who was traded to the Kings from Washington last June in exchange for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Quinton Byfield scored for the fifth straight game, Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Warren Foegele also scored for the Kings, who moved past the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division thanks to their fourth straight win.
Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals, who had won five in a row.
The Kings and Capitals were battling for the puck behind the Washington net when Trevor Moore managed to nudge a pass to Foegele at the side of the crease. Foegele then stuffed the puck across the goal line from the shortside to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 13:08 of the first period.
Andrew Mangiapane was called for holding Mikey Anderson with 40 seconds left in the second period and that power play carried over to the third. It was then that Fiala hit the top right corner of the net with a one-timer from the right circle to extend the lead to 2-0 at 1:05.
The Kings scored again 47 seconds later.
Los Angeles defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov forced a turnover just inside the Washington blue line, creating an odd-man rush. Fiala passed to Byfield, who scored with a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle for a 3-0 lead at 1:52.
The Capitals went 0-for-5 on the power play, including a two-man advantage for 20 seconds in the third period.
Washington winger Alex Ovechkin, who came in nine goals from breaking the all-time NHL career scoring record held by Wayne Gretzky (894), did not have a shot on goal and went without a score for the second straight game.
–Field Level Media
