‘Feels good’: Dubois helps power Capitals past his former team
Pierre-Luc Dubois had two assists en route to the win, which puts the Capitals back atop the Eastern Conference standings.
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WASHINGTON — Aliaksei Protas scored twice and the Washington Capitals beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 on Sunday night.
Jakub Vrana also scored and Pierre-Luc Dubois had two assists en route to the win, which puts the Capitals back atop the Eastern Conference standings.
“Feels good, feels a little extra special,” Dubois, who spent last season with the Kings, said of the win post-game.
“Now I’ll go see some of the guys on the other side and some of the staff, but, you know, before the game, you just want to win. You remember a little bit of the things that happened last year, and all you want to do is win. This group is extremely resilient and it wasn’t easy, but we got it done.”
After just one season with the Kings, Dubois was traded to the Capitals during the off-season in exchange for goalie Darcy Kuemper. The move has benefitted the 26-year-old as, with 25 points in 33 games this season, he is on pace to far surpass his 40 points in 82 games last season with the Kings.
Also playing a key role in Sunday’s victory for the Capitals, Logan Thompson made 25 saves to advance to 13-2-2.
Kevin Fiala scored for the Kings, who have dropped three of the last four and lost a back-to-back set for the first time this season.
David Rittich made 18 saves in the loss, dropping to 10-8 on the season.
Takeaways
Kings: Going into Sunday, the Kings had the fifth-worst power play in the league and were 0 for 10 over the course of their lengthy road trip. They finally broke through thanks to Fiala, ending a six-game power-play scoring drought.
Capitals: With Alex Ovechkin still working his way back from a broken leg, Protas has stepped up to fill the void on offense. With another multigoal outing, he matched the career high of 29 points he set last season in 45 fewer games.
Key moment
After giving up a power-play goal early in the second, Washington responded with a goal of its own on the man advantage, as Vrana sniped home his sixth goal of the season to restore the lead for the Capitals.
Key stat
Dubois continues to make a home for himself in D.C. as he extended his point streak to three games. He has points in seven of his last eight outings and leads Washington in scoring through the month of December.
Up next
The Capitals play their final game before the Christmas break Monday night at Boston, while the Kings return from nearly a week off to host Edmonton on Saturday.
— with files from Sportsnet Staff
