Caps Reach End of Road in Arizona
Caps face Coyotes in finale of five-game trip, playing their last game in Glendale before the 'Yotes move to Tempe next season
The Caps conclude their longest road trip of the 2021-22 season on Friday night in Arizona where they will take on the Coyotes in the finale of a five-game trip. Following a 4-3 overtime loss to the Golden Knights on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, the Caps are 2-1-1 on the trip to date.
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals in Wednesday's game to reach the 50-goal plateau for the season, the ninth time he has done so in his 17 NHL seasons. Ovechkin is now tied with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for the most 50-goal seasons in League history, and he is also the oldest player (36) to ever record a 50-goal season. Boston's Johnny Bucyk previously held that mark; Bucyk was 35 when he scored 51 goals for the Bruins in 1970-71.
Washington carried a 2-1 lead into the third period of Wednesday's game, but Vegas scored twice in a span of 49 seconds in the third period to tie the game and take the lead. Ovechkin's second goal tied the game at 3-3 late in the third period, but the Caps fell when Shea Theodore scored in overtime to make Vegas victorious.
Vegas tied the game in transition after a Washington turnover in neutral ice and it pulled into its first lead of the game less than a minute later when ex-Cap Chandler Stephenson scored from the slot on the power play.
"Probably the first couple of shifts in the first [period] weren't very good," says Caps defenseman Nick Jensen. "And then at the start of the third we got away from our game plan - myself included - of just going north with the puck, getting it in and just forechecking. We were doing that all night and they were turning it over all night, and it was our advantage. But we got away from that the first couple of shifts.
"You've got to give [them] credit; they're a desperate team right now. They're fighting for their lives, so they put the push on. We didn't match the intensity that we needed to."
For the most part, the Caps played another strong game, aside from a couple rocky minutes early in each of the game's three periods. Washington goaltender Ilya Samsonov likely would want to have a couple of the goals back that he allowed, but he made a couple of big stops early in the first when the game was still scoreless, one on a 2-on-1 rush and the other on a shot from the slot immediately after a Washington turnover.
In the second, Samsonov papered over another Caps turnover with a snazzy glove save in the first half-minute of the frame, and then got the Caps through a Vegas power play. Ovechkin scored his first of the game just seconds after the expiration of that Golden Knights man advantage, giving the Caps a 2-1 lead at that point.
"I don't think our execution was off," says Ovechkin. "We knew they were in a tough position; they need the points, they can't [afford a] loss. We try our best obviously, but they scored the two first goals in the third.
"It was a fun game, but tough loss. We're just going to move on."
Now the Caps move on to the final stop of their trip in Arizona, which is also moving on. The Caps will be playing at Glendale's Gila River Arena for the last time on Friday. The Coyotes will move into a new - and likely temporary home - next season in nearby Tempe.
In Washington's first ever visit to Arizona's Glendale home - which opened in December of 2003 - Ovechkin scored his famous "The Goal" from a prone position on Jan. 16, 2006. That game was the first of just three Washington wins here over the years; the Caps are 3-5-2 in the building, and they've scored more than three goals here only twice, including their first visit here when Ovechkin's amazing goal was the last goal of the game in a 6-1 Caps victory.
Arizona is at the very bottom of the NHL's standings, sitting in the Central Division cellar with 22 wins and 49 points through 76 games. The Coyotes have a lengthy and growing list of injured players, and they'll be seeking to snap an eight-game losing streak (0-7-1), during which they've been outscored by a combined 47-13.
"It's another team where guys are playing for positions," says Jensen of the Coyotes. "I told you guys, I've been there and it's not like they're going to be playing summer hockey. They're going to be playing hard, and people want to play in this League for a long time. These guys are fighting for spots and positions next year, or contracts and what have you. It's not going to be an easy game. We've got to make sure we show up for it."
