Caps Clip Coyotes Late, 4-2

For Caps winger Andre Burakovsky, Thursday night's game against the Arizona Coyotes offered great expectations. He'd be playing the right side of Washington's top line, with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Once the game got started, though, it was a bit of Dickens in reverse for Burakovsky - it was the worst of times, and it was the best of times.

Redeeming himself for an early turnover that led directly to Arizona's goal in the first period, Burakovsky snapped a 2-2 tie late in the third, scoring what would prove to be the game-winning goal in Washington's 4-2 victory with 4:42 remaining.

"This game is funny," says Burakovsky. "Overall, I think I wasn't really there today - a tough one. The puck was bouncing the other way for me all of the time, and obviously I did a mistake on their first goal that I shouldn't do. I probably should have just turned the other way and chipped it out of the zone. But that's behind me now and I've got to keep focusing on the next game."
With the two teams deadlocked and with time winding down in the third, Matt Niskanen sent Burakovsky into Arizona ice with speed on a sharp, cross-ice breakout pass. Burakovsky did the rest, gaining the zone and beating Coyotes goalie Adin Hill with a wrist shot on the short side.
Even though he didn't have his strongest game overall, Caps coach Todd Reirden didn't park Burakovsky on the bench, knowing he's a player who is capable of making the difference in a tight game.
"He has that ability," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "We've seen him score some big goals. He wasn't happy with his play on that first goal against, and I wasn't ether. But you have to believe in your players and put them in situations to succeed. We moved him in and out a little bit as the game went on, but we wanted him out there at the end, and he is able to convert a huge goal for him and for our team, so it's a really good moment."

Things didn't start well for Burakovsky and the Caps, who fell down a goal on the Coyotes' first shot on net of the night. Burakovsky turned the puck over on a blind feed that went right to Arizona's Derek Stepan in the Washington zone. Stepan fed Christian Fischer, who fired a slapper from the high slot to the top shelf, putting Arizona up 1-0 at 4:48 of the first.
After Arizona's Richard Panik missed the net on a penalty shot early in the second, the Caps got even on a Jakub Vrana goal at 5:27 of the second. From behind the Arizona net, Evgeny Kuznetsov flipped a pass to the front for Brett Connolly, but the puck nicked Connolly's stick blade and rolled to the slot where Vrana was Jake-on-the-spot, putting into the top corner to make it a 1-1 game.
Less than two minutes later, the Coyotes retook the lead on a Lawson Crouse goal. Caps goalie Pheonix Copley stopped Jordan Oesterle's shot through traffic from center point. But Crouse was first to the rebound, and the traffic was still present. He put it through the maze to make it 2-1 at 6:59.
Washington pulled even with exactly four minutes remaining in the second. Travis Boyd carried into Arizona ice with speed and dropped the puck for a late-arriving Niskanen, whose drive from the high slot rattled off some Arizona sticks and bodies, finding purchase behind Hill to make it a 2-2 game.
The Caps missed an opportunity to take the lead early in the third when Vrana had a penalty shot try, but wasn't able to get a good shot off. As the period wore on, the Caps were able to put together some strong offensive-zone shifts, but neither side was able to break the tie until Burakovsky came through.

"Well, they made the play we didn't," laments Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet. "We were fine, we had a couple shifts where we got hemmed in, but we had missed a lot of chances the first period. If we hit the net, we had a couple chances to make it 3-0. I thought we were fine, we just needed some guys to make some plays quite frankly."
With 2.3 seconds left, Ovechkin sailed a shot into an empty Arizona net to account for the 4-2 final, Washington's first regulation win here since Jan. 16, 2006.
"We struggled in this building for whatever reason the last few years," says Reirden, "It was good for us to have a really solid third period. That cost us the last couple of games and something we addressed and spread out some of the ice time so we could be a little stronger as the third period went on. I thought it was beneficial for us."