Capitals fall to Coyotes
The Washington Capitals dropped a 3-1 game to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
Alex Ovechkin was still held scoreless, for the fourth straight game, and the Washington Capitals came away with just one goal in a 3-1 defeat at Gila River Arena.
The Arizona Coyotes swept the season series after coming away with a shootout win back in November.
The first 20 minutes were scoreless as the Caps led in shots on goal 14-10. Both teams were unable to score on their lone power play attempts.
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The Coyotes struck first at 7:06 in the second period with a goal from Christian Dvorak. The Capitals would even the score late in the second period at 17:10 with Carl Hagelin‘s fifth goal of the season. Hagelin did a good job crashing the net to help the Caps break through. Travis Boyd and Richard Panik were credited with the helpers.
1-1 was the score after two periods with Arizona having the edge in shots 11-0 in the middle stanza.
Former Pittsburgh Penguin Phil Kessel would give his new team the lead at 5:25 in the third period on the power play. Lawson Crouse would put the game away at 19:32 with an empty net goal to seal the win.
The Caps were unable to answer despite leading in shots 14-9 in the third period and 37-30 overall. The Caps went 0-for-3 on the power play while Kessel’s PPG was the lone goal the team allowed on the man disadvantage. Each team had three penalties. The Caps outhit the Coyotes 30-23 but Arizona had the edge in face-offs 52%-49%.
Ovechkin finished the game with 17 shot attempts with eight of those on goal. His four game drought is his longest of the season.
Ovechkin told the media after the game (via NHL.com’s Alan Robinson):
"“Yeah, lots of chances. Obviously, it didn’t go in, but I think we have pretty good chances to score. Obviously, [Antti Raanta] made some pretty good saves, and nothing you can do right now.”"
Capitals head coach Todd Reirden echoed similar statements for the amount of chances the team had as a whole:
"“We’re getting some chances, hitting some posts. Right now, we’re just not finding the back of the net.”"
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The Capitals wrap up their road trip on Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. on the east coast. For out of town Caps fans, this is a chance for them to see history at the very place they lifted the Stanley Cup two years ago.