Takeaways: Wilson, Capitals Stay Hot & Play Smart To Best Kings

There's just no slowing down the Washington Capitals right now.

The Capitals were in for a challenge as they continued their busy road swing against the Los Angeles Kings, but Tom Wilson and the usual suspects stepped up again, and ultimately, D.C. played smart en route to a 3-1 victory.

Here are the takeaways from Washington's fifth straight win.

The Capitals power play continues to trend in the right direction, and it got to work early against the Kings to give D.C. the early advantage.

Alex Ovechkin's shot went off Darcy Kuemper and right to Ryan Leonard, who, instead of calling his own number, made a pass over to Tom Wilson. After the puck bounced off a defender in front, Wilson tapped in his 16th goal of the season to make it 1-0.

Wilson is on a six-game point streak, and he's the first Capitals forward to hit the 30-point mark this season.

Leonard, though, deserves a lot of credit for how he's sparked the man advantage since joining that first unit. He has points in four of his last five games, and his 14 points rank fourth among all rookies this season.

Ovechkin also extended his point streak to five games.

The Capitals' penalty kill hasn't had the easiest start to the season, but took a big step forward with its performance against the high-flying Kings on Tuesday at a crucial time.

With the game tied 1-1 and L.A. starting the third on the man advantage, Washington needed a big kill, and got just that as it tilted the momentum in D.C.'s favor.

Connor McMichael had a big block to close out the kill, and then went off to the races on a 3-on-1 with Alex Ovechkin, fresh out of the box, and Anthony Beauvillier. The three of them pulled off picture-perfect passing, as Beauvillier scored on a slam dunk to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

Beauvillier is on a four-game point streak, and McMichael has five points in his last five games. Meanwhile, Ovechkin picked up yet another multi-point game and his 800th road point.

Ultimately, the Capitals played a smart, shutdown game against the Kings, keeping the puck out of harm's way and not giving L.A. much time to operate with, especially in the third.

In the final minutes of regulation, Washington locked things down, and Aliaksei Protas ultimately iced the game with an empty-netter.

Logan Thompson also had yet another impressive outing, stopping 22 of 23 en route to his fourth straight victory.

Overall, Washington did a good job of controlling the tempo and not letting the Kings take over the game.