Coyotes at Capitals
The Washington Capitals have won back-to-back contests for the first time since opening the season with two straight victories and look to continue their revival when the Arizona Coyotes pay them a visit on Monday. Washington coach Barry Trotz told reporters his team is starting to create its own identity after earning one-goal wins over the New York Islanders on Thursday and Boston two days later.
“We needed that,” Capitals center Lars Eller told the Washington Post after the 3-2 triumph at Boston. “We don’t want to be chasing in the standings for the whole season. We’ve got a good stretch now where I think we can put some wins together.” The Capitals are over .500 for the first time in more than two weeks (7-6-1) and will try to build on that against the Coyotes, who have won two of their last four after beginning the season with an 11-game drought. Antti Raanta turned aside 36 shots in his second game back from injured reserve as Arizona knocked off Carolina 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday, and his next appearance will be the 100th of his NHL career. Coyotes center Clayton Keller is the early Calder Trophy favorite after notching 10 goals and six assists in the first 15 games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, NBCSN Washington
ABOUT THE COYOTES (2-12-1): Raanta told reporters he felt healthy after colliding with Carolina's Derek Ryan in overtime while taking a “journey” from his crease. “I thought that was a great game for him,” teammate Brad Richardson told reporters of Raanta, who stopped 20-of-21 shots in the third period and overtime. Max Domi has not scored a goal since the season opener but has notched nine assists and 10 points to place second on the team behind Keller, while Richardson has assists in two consecutive games.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (7-6-1): The third line of Eller, Chandler Stephenson and Tom Wilson has registered 12 points over the last four games, including four in Saturday’s victory. “That whole line is playing really well,” Trotz told reporters. “I like what they’re doing. Number one is, they’re working. … Right now, I can play them against anybody, which is a real good feeling as a coach.” Captain Alex Ovechkin scored for the first time in six games Saturday to give him a team-high 11 goals, and he shares the top spot in scoring with Evgeny Kuznetsov at 16 points.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona has scored the first goal of the game an NHL-high 11 times in 15 contests but is just 2-8-1 in those situations.
2. Kuznetsov is two points shy of 200 for his career and Washington C Jay Beagle is one away from 100.
3. The Coyotes entered Sunday leading the league with 392 hits and ranking seventh in blocks (213).