Adrian Kempe scores 2 goals and Kings beat Capitals 5-2 for first win of season
Artemi Panarin, Erik Gustafsson and Scott Laughton also scored for Los Angeles (1-4-2), and former Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves.
Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson scored for the Capitals, who took a 2-0 lead in the first period but were held scoreless for the final 41:25. Washington's Logan Thompson stopped 21 shots.
The Kings, who came in having scored just four goals over their previous four games and 12 goals through six games, lost second-line center Quinton Byfield to an upper-body injury in the first period. He played just 2:44.
Hutson put the Capitals ahead 2-0 on the power play with 1:25 left in the first, but Kempe found the net less than a minute later and Panarin scored 2 seconds before the intermission.
Gustafsson put the Kings ahead at 7:28 of the third on the power play. Kempe scored his second goal midway through the third, and Laughton added an empty-netter that gave the Kings their highest-scoring game of the season.
Absent the injured Pierre Luc-Dubois and Justin Sourdif down the middle of their forward ranks, the Capitals were unable to beat Kuemper, who played for Washington from 2022-24.
Up next
Kings: Visit the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Capitals: Host Buffalo on Saturday night.
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Regular Season Series
LA leads series 1-0