Strome, Kuemper haunt former team as Capitals blank Coyotes originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Thursday evening’s contest wasn’t exactly a homecoming for Dylan Strome and Darcy Kuemper, but they made sure to leave an impression on their former team anyway. Strome scored twice and Kuemper took it from there with his fifth shutout of the season to lead the Capitals to a 4-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
While Strome and Kuemper used to call Gila River Arena home during their stints in Arizona, the Coyotes are hosting games at Mullet Arena on the campus of Arizona State University for the next three years after their lease expired. Playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,600 littered with red jerseys, the Capitals leaned on their former Coyotes for the win.
Strome, a third overall pick of Arizona in 2015, wasted little time getting the Capitals on the board. He got enough of his stick on a shot by Dmitry Orlov to redirect it past Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka just 3:03 into the game for an early 1-0 lead.
That was all the run support Kuemper would need. Originally traded to the Coyotes at the deadline in 2017-18, he spent parts of four seasons in Arizona before departing for the Colorado Avalanche last year. The veteran netminder made easy work of them Thursday, stopping all 27 shots he faced while the skaters in front of him limited their attempts.
After the shot totals were an even 7-7 after the first period, the Capitals took control in the second by a margin of 13-7. That advantage didn’t produce any goals, however, until the final three minutes of the period when Sonny Milano and Tom Wilson scored 69 seconds apart. Wilson’s goal came on the power play, his first with the man advantage this season.
Arizona had chances to make things interesting with three power-play chances in the first 10 minutes of the third, but the Capitals shut them down by allowing just one shot across the three opportunities. Strome then put the game out of reach with his second of the night on a backhand feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov.
With the win, the Capitals improved to 25-17-6 with 56 points toward the Metropolitan Division standings. Mullet Arena was the first stop in a three-game road trip for Washington, which faces the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday and the Avalanche on Tuesday before heading back home.
