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Sleepy shutout as Caps make successful first visit to Mullett Arena: Caps beat Coyotes 4-0

By Chris Cerullo

 3 Comments

January 19, 2023 11:37 pm

The Washington Capitals traveled to Arizona to take on the Coyotes inside Mullett Arena for the very first time. The lowly Yotes beat the Caps in DC earlier this season so potential revenge was up for grabs.

Dylan Strome tipped home the game’s opening goal. Sonny Milano slammed the Caps into a two-goal advantage. Tom Wilson tipped in a Dmitry Orlov point shot to add one more. Strome potted his second halfway through the third.

Darcy Kuemper shutout.

Capitals beat Coyotes 4-0!

  • The first period was an absolute slog to watch. The Coyotes did nothing and the Caps responded by also doing nothing. The leisurely stroll pace the Caps played at was incredibly annoying to me. Arizona blatantly sucks on purpose. Take the game to them. Don’t let them dictate the pace.
  • Dylan Strome burned his former team with his 10th and 11th goal of the season. In what world did it make sense to healthy scratch this guy? That still baffles me more than the Anthony Mantha and Lars Eller decisions in that regard.
  • Speaking of lineup decisions. I think Nicolas Aube-Kubel is a perfectly fine bottom-six NHL player but he has absolutely zero business being the right wing on a line led by Alex Ovechkin. They may play well statistically but it’s going to limit their scoring potential. I really don’t want to see more of that.

  • Am I just cranky or was the vast majority of this one incredibly hard to watch? The Coyotes are not a fun terrible team. They are a terrible team that has all five skaters converge to the center of the ice whenever the opposition brings the puck into the offensive zone. Blech.
  • Sonny Milano got on the board as that second line featuring him, Nicklas Backstrom, and Tom Wilson stays hot. Per Caps PR, since joining the team, Milano is tied for second on the team in goals with eight. What a pickup.
  • The Caps finally got their power play on the board again. Tom Wilson’s tip of a Dmitry Orlov point shot was their first goal with a man advantage in seven games. That is plainly not good enough but you gotta get the first one to start a run.
  • I was kind of excited to see the Caps play in Mullett Arena. Turns out that it very much is a college rink but without any of the college atmosphere. Yeesh.

  • Arizona did nothing in the entire game but the third was probably their best? I guess.
  • Darcy Kuemper shut out his former team, adding to his league-leading total in that regard (5).
  • By the way, what a filthy pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov on Strome’s second goal. My highlight of the night.

The Caps will stay out west after this one and take on one of their favorite all-time opponents in the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. More very late-night hockey!

Headline photo courtesy of @stekel28/Twitter

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