Thursday, December 6, 2018 09:00 PM (ET)

Capitals climb past Coyotes in third period

Field Level Media
Dec 6, 2018

Andre Burakovsky scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, and Alex Ovechkin added an empty-netter in the final moments as the visiting Washington Capitals defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 Thursday night in Glendale, Ariz.

Burakovsky took a pass from Matt Niskanen (one goal, one assist) and came up the left wing before firing a shot that beat goalie Adin Hill on the short side to snap a 2-2 tie with 4:42 left in the third period.

Ovechkin added his empty-net goal with 2.3 seconds remaining.

This victory ended a brief two-game Washington losing streak. The Coyotes had won four straight.

Capitals goalie Pheonix Copley made 27 saves. Hill, who entered the game with a 4-0-0 record and a 0.56 GAA, finished with 25 stops.

Washington was playing without two of its top right wingers -- Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie, both out with what the club called upper-body injuries. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Wilson sustained a concussion due to a blindside hit Tuesday in the Capitals' 5-3 loss road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Oshie also is believed to have sustained a head injury last month and has not played since then.

The Capitals moved up Burakovsky to the top line, but it was his mistake that led to Arizona's first goal. He turned the puck over in the Washington end, and Derek Stepan got it and made a quick pass to Christian Fischer, who scored on a one-timer 4:48 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Richard Panik missed on an early second-period penalty shot for the Coyotes, and Washington tied it on a Jakub Vrana goal at 5:27.

Lawson Crouse gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead less than two minutes later when he scored after coming up with a long rebound.

Niskanen tied the game for the Capitals with four minutes left in the middle period. Travis Boyd got the primary assist, and Copley earned his first point this season with the second helper.

Vrana had a chance to give Washington the lead on the game's second penalty shot 16 seconds into the third period, but Hill stopped him.

--Field Level Media

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