Nov 17, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with teammates after their game against the Los Angeles Kings at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Strong starts are always important in hockey; when you’re a struggling team hosting a team that is dominant on the road, even more so. Last night, the Caps needed to get off to a good start against the visiting Kings – and they did just that, thanks to former LA King Matt Roy.
It didn’t take Roy and the Caps all that long to get the home crowd on their feet. Just over three minutes into the first period, the Caps gained entry to the offensive zone, with Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson passing the puck back and forth along the boards. That seemed to draw the attention (and understandably so) of the Kings’ players, including Quinton Byfield – who had been shadowing Roy on the zone entry but then wandered into the corner to try and interrupt Protas and Wilson.
Roy, noticing that he was free from his shadow, simply slowed up and moved himself right in front of the net. With no white jerseys anywhere close to him, he was free to make a beautiful deflection of a Protas point shot to tip the puck past Kuemper, and just like that, it was 1-0 Caps.
Alex Ovechkin would add on the eventual game-winner in the second period, and while Anze Kopitar did Anze Kopitar things to strike on the power play, the Caps were able to lock things down defensively the rest of the way (thanks in part to a very solid bounceback effort by Charlie Lindgren, who needed that one badly).
Just a really solid – and very necessary – win for the good guys, whose road ahead doesn’t get any easier. Next up, the Edmonton Oilers come to town on Wednesday night and the Caps will look to extend their winning streak to two (2) games.
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