The Washington Capitals rallied and nearly won their seventh game in a row but the Arizona Coyotes spoiled things on their home ice Monday night in a 4-3 shootout win.
The Washington Capitals dropped their first contest in their last seven games in a contest they nearly won had there not been an offsides mishap. Despite the 4-3 defeat the Capitals were at least able to come away with a point.
The Coyotes went up 1-0 at 14:15 on a goal from Clayton Keller. 1-0 was the score after 1 with the Coyotes outshooting the Capitals 13-12.
Christian Fischer doubled their lead with a goal 10 seconds into the second period and Michael Grabner added to it at the 45 second mark to make it 3-0.
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Evgeny Kuznetsov finally got the Capitals on the board with a breakaway goal at 8:47. Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson were credited with the helpers. 3-1 was the score after two periods with the Coyotes outshooting the Capitals 13-9.
At 2:23 in the third, Kuznetsov pulled the Caps within one with a nifty backhanded goal rebounding a wide shot from Michal Kempny. It was Kuznetsov’s eighth of the season.
The Capitals tied it with 1:16 left when T.J. Oshie rebounded in a shot from Alex Ovechkin in front of the net for his eighth goal of the season. John Carlson was credited with the secondary assist for his 21st on the season.
The Caps outshot the Coyotes 11-6 in the third period and 3-3 would be the score heading into overtime. The Capitals nearly won it in the extra session with a goal by Oshie but the play was called back for offsides.
"“We know we didn’t play our best hockey in the first couple periods, and there was only one thing to do coming out in the third, was try to correct it and try and play the right way. We did enough to battle back into it, and bit of a buzzkill there, we thought we [won] it, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”"
The game would require a shootout to decide the winner and neither Oshie or Kuznetsov could score in the rounds. On the other side, the Coyotes got both of their goals from Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland for the win.
The Capitals were outshot 3-2 in overtime and 35-34 overall in what was an exciting game and a thrilling comeback despite the defeat. Ilya Samsonov stopped 32-of-35 for a .914 save percentage. The Capitals record drops to 13-2-4 but still gain a point to bring that total up to 30 and remain atop the entire NHL.