In Tempe, Dylan Strome hit for the first and last goals for the Washington Capitals on Thursday night in a 4-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes. 
Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves, it was his fifth shutout of the season.
“Really good, really good,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said of Kuemper. “Sometimes it’s tough in those games where there’s not a lot of volume and not that much coming at you. … But, at the end, they were pushing and pressing, he had to make some saves and I thought he looked really good.”
Strome scored in the first period for a 1-0 lead and capped the effort in the third for the 4-0 final.
“We talked about that, we wanted to clean up in front of the net and give our goalies a chance to make the save,” Strome said. “We’ve been giving up some goals like that, so it’s nice to get them the other way when we tip and screen their goalie. It’s never fun for a goalie, and I’m happy we did that tonight.”
Arizona dropped to 14-26-5.
“Everybody wants to win and turn this around, but it’s easier said than done,” Arizona defenseman Troy Stecher said. “We’ve got to dig deep here and start showing up with a purpose. Things aren’t just handed over to you. You don’t get wins easy.”
Sonny Milano and Tom Wilson scored in the middle frame for a 3-0 lead after two periods.
“Our breakouts aren’t good enough, our forecheck isn’t good enough, our neutral zone forecheck isn’t good enough,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “It’s not that there’s a lack of desire by our players but, for whatever reason, we’re not as emotionally engaged and intense. … We need to find another gear.”
Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves in the Coyotes loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.