The Coyotes have turned to rookie goaltender Adin Hill (4-0-0, .977%, .56 GAA) in the last four starts, but he wasn’t able to stop the defending Stanley Cup Champions, Washington Capitals.

Christian Fischer scores at 4:48 from a Derek Stepan pass from the corner on the first shot on goal for the Coyotes. The rest of the period was back and forth between the two teams.

A milestone was reached by Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, getting his 5000th shot in his career in his 1031st game. He is the fastest to 5,000 shots by 184 games. The previous record holder was Marcel Dionne with 5000 shots in 1215 games.

Richard Panik was awarded a penalty shot, which he missed at 1:16 of the second period. The Capitals were able to tie the game when Jakub Vrana scored at 5:27 of the second period. The Coyotes were able to respond soon after on a Lawson Crouse shot at 6:59 to make it 2-1 Coyotes. Matt Niskanen of the Capitals tied it up by banking a shot off of Jakob Chychrun’s skate at 16:00 of the second period.

Andre Burakovsky makes it 3-2 at 15:18 of the third to put the Capitals up permanently. The Coyotes were not able to tie it up at the end. Ovechkin potted an empty-netter making the final score 4-2.

“I thought we were fine, we just needed guys to make some plays,” said Head Coach Rick Tocchet after the game. “It’s just a frustrating game because it’s a winnable game. If we want to be that type of team, we need to make a play.”

“It’s hard to win in this league. That’s why the details have to be there,” said Tocchet.

“These are games you gotta win.”