Caps down Coyotes, tie for third in Metro

In Glendale, Vitek Vanecek made 19 saves and the Washington Capitals defeated the Coyotes, 2-0, on Friday night.

Conor Sheary scored in the opening stanza to give the Caps a 1-0 lead.

“When you’re on a long trip against a team that’s out of the playoffs and is trying to plug in some young guys, sometimes those can be dangerous games,” Sheary said. “They got some odd-man rushes, but `V’ made the saves when he needed to. Overall, it was a great win.

“To take seven points on a long road trip is a good job by our guys. I don’t know if we prepare differently or just approach (road) games differently, but it seems like everyone buys into them. We’re a veteran team that’s not scared to play on the road.”

Washington improved to 44-23-11.

“I don’t think we had a ton of chances,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought they played good defense, but we were able to stay in there.”

The Caps are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for third in the Metropolitan Division.

“Actually, this game is really hard because there weren’t too many shots, and in the second period, the guys were buzzing all the time in the offensive zone, so it was really hard for me,” Vanecek said. “In the third period, I got some shots that got me back (in it).”

John Carlson hit for an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

“It was just a really gutsy effort by our guys to stay focused and stay with the effort that we needed to be successful,” Laviolette said.