John Carlson scored a power-play goal in the third period and Alex Ovechkin added an empty-netter as the Washington Capitals defeated the visiting Arizona Coyotes 2-0 on Friday night.
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov stopped all 16 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season and the fourth of his 49-game NHL career.
The Capitals extended their season-opening point streak to eight games (5-0-3), one shy of the franchise record of nine set last season when they opened 6-0-3.
Despite rookie goalie Karel Vejmelka stopping 30 of 31 shots, the Coyotes (0-7-1) remained only one of two winless teams in the league — the Chicago Blackhawks are the other.
The Capitals came up empty on their first five power-play chances before finally coming through on their sixth opportunity at 12:02 of the final period.
Evgeny Kuznetsov took a pass from Ovechkin along the right-wing boards before slipping the puck back to Carlson at the right point. His shot made its way through a maze of players out front and past a screened Vejmelka, who never saw the puck.
Vejmelka was especially strong in the first period, when the Capitals had a 14-4 edge in shots on goal. Washington had a 9-6 edge in shots in both the second and third periods.
Ovechkin clinched the victory at 19:39, shooting the puck from just inside his own blue line into the gaping net after Kuznetsov stole the puck near the left faceoff circle in Washington’s end. It was Ovechkin’s league-leading ninth goal of the season and the 739th of his career, pulling him within two of Brett Hull for fourth place on the NHL’s all-time list.
Washington’s Brett Leason was recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League and made his NHL debut. Leason filled in for Nic Dowd, who returned Wednesday after missing one game with a lower-body injury but fell during the morning skate Friday and left the ice.
The Capitals played without forward T.J. Oshie, who is considered week-to-week after taking a slap shot off his right foot during a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media
