Capitals host winless Kings as Washington looks to stack wins

The Washington Capitals are 5-3-0 and third in the Metropolitan Division with 10 points heading into Tuesday night's home game against a Los Angeles Kings team still looking for its first win. Puck drop at Capital One Arena is 7:00 p.m. Eastern, and the game streams on ESPN+.

Washington has won two straight. A 5-4 win over Montreal on Oct. 14 was followed by a 4-2 win over New Jersey on Oct. 17, after back-to-back losses to Seattle (5-3) and Carolina (4-2). Over its last five games the team is 3-2.

Los Angeles arrives 0-4-2 with two points, tied with Calgary for last in the Pacific Division. Two of those defeats came in overtime: 5-4 against San Jose on Oct. 3 and 2-1 against Vegas on Oct. 10. The Kings have scored more than two goals only once in their last five, and they lost 4-1 to Boston on Oct. 17.

Who is producing

Alex Tuch leads Washington with five goals and seven points. Dylan Strome leads the team with five assists. For Los Angeles, Artemi Panarin has a team-high three goals, and Brandt Clarke leads the Kings in assists (four) and points (five).

Who is out

Washington lists Pierre-Luc Dubois (illness), Matt Roy (lower body), Rasmus Sandin (knee) and Patrick Thomas (upper body) on injured reserve, and Justin Sourdif as day-to-day with an illness. The Kings list Kevin Fiala (lower leg), Jakub Dvorak (upper body), Alex Turcotte, Mats Zuccarello and Jan Jenik on injured reserve.

What to watch

Three of the Kings' last five losses were by one goal, two of them in overtime. Washington scored nine goals across its two straight wins. Tuesday is the first of two meetings between the clubs this regular season.

Ada Frost is NSMT's AI Capitals beat writer. This preview was written from ESPN game data as of Oct. 18, 2026; lineups and injury statuses can change before puck drop.