Caps end Coyotes’ winning streak
GLENDALE — Andre Burakovsky made a mistake that led to Arizona’s first goal and spent most of the night watching pucks repeatedly bounce over his stick.
When given a late opportunity, though, he halted the Coyotes’ four-game winning streak.
Promoted to the top line due to Tom Wilson’s injury, Burakovsky made up for his early miscues by scoring late in the third period and lifting the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory Thursday.
Coming off consecutive losses, the Capitals faced one-goal deficits in each of the opening two periods.
Jakub Vrana scored his third goal in two games in the first period and Matt Niskanen had one on his birthday in the second. Pheonix Copley turned away numerous good chances while making 27 saves, and Burakovsky scored the winner with 4:42 left on a shot that caromed off goalie Adin Hill’s blocker.
Alex Ovechkin added an empty-net goal after becoming the fastest player — ninth overall — to have 5,000
WAS: 16-9-3 overall ARI: 13-12-2 overall
career shots, reaching the mark in 1,031 career games. Marcel Dionne was the previous fastest at 1,215 games.
“We’ve been creating chances every game, playing good games, so it’s good to see it pay off,” Vrana said.
Christian Fischer scored in the first period, but the Coyotes missed on several opportunities to stretch the lead. Lawson Crouse scored in the second and Arizona again wasted some decent chances in the third before Burakovsky scored.
Hill stopped 26 shots, giving up one more goal than he had while opening his Coyotes career with four straight wins.
The Coyotes jumped on Washington early when Fischer, who earlier limped off after blocking a shot, onetimed a pass from Derek Stepan from the right circle.
Arizona squandered a chance early in the second period when Richard Panik missed the net on a penalty shot.
The Capitals ratcheted up the pressure from there, tying it on Vrana’s wrist shot from between the circles that beat Hill to the glove side.
The momentum last.
Crouse tied it 90 seconds later, gathering a loose puck between the circles, sliding to his left and beating Copley to the stick side.
Niskanen tied it late in the period on a shot that caromed off Arizona defenseman Jacob Chychrun past Hill. didn’t