Arizona Coyotes Lose A Heartbreaker To Capitals 3-2

The Arizona Coyotes found themselves in the nation’s capital facing off against the Capitals on Monday night. Despite a whale of a game by Louis Domingue, Mike Richards third period goal was the game-winner for the Caps.

The Arizona Coyotes came out prepared to face the Washington Capitals on Monday night.

The Caps aren’t just any old NHL team. They are the class of the NHL with offensive depth that would make any general manager blush.

Bar a bit of a fluke goal caused by Louis Domingue appearing to ice the puck and teammate Brad Richardson inadvertently dislodging it from his glove and into the Capitals clutches, they might have pulled out at least a point in the District of Columbia.

The hockey gods were not with the Coyotes on this night, unfortunately, and despite a pretty decent night on all fronts (sans the power play) the Yotes fell to the Caps.

Player Performance

Louis Domingue did all he could do to stymie the Capitals but it wasn’t meant to be. The ledger will show a loss, but this one wasn’t on #35. He made some enormous saves throughout and gave up the game-winning goal thanks to his own teammate stripping the puck after he had iced it.

Kevin Connauton scored yet another goal. This kid has been a hell of a waiver wire pickup for Don Maloney and the Arizona Coyotes.

Brad Richardson‘s line was amazing again as usual…but it was his errant stick that caused the Mike Richards goal. Richardson had his stick under Louis’ glove and when he pulled it out, that freed the puck and was the main reason play was allowed to continue.

Max Domi and Anthony Duclair were shut down completely by the Capitals. They had no shots on goal though both played more than 15 minutes (Domi logged 17+).

Nice to see Tobias Rieder get a point in front of his father who is following the team on this long road trip.

Mikkel Boedker watch continues with no end to the drought in site.

Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game

Jordan Martinook didn’t have any points on the night but he was an absolute terror on the ice. He utilized his speed to create several early opportunities for the third line and continued his strong play throughout.

The View From The 200 Level

When you go 0 for 6 on the power play you are just asking for a loss. The Arizona Coyotes did just that and here we are.

They did a pretty good job handling the Capitals excellent power play unit, and shut down the star laden Caps offense far better than I would have expected.

The Alex Ovechkin goal was a thing of beauty coupled with too much space allowed by Jarred Tinordi. The Evgeny Kuznetsov one was similar; too much time and space for players of this caliber.

Next: The Coyotes Should Trade Mikkel Boedker

Domingue did what he could and to be frank some of the saves he made tonight were absolutely dynamite. It was a far cry from his performance in the game against St. Louis.

Now the Arizona Coyotes have to shake this one off and prepare to face the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night in the second game of their back-to-back.

Might we see Niklas Treutle?