Recap

Andre Burakovsky Scores, Has Strong Showing In Return To Lineup

It certainly has been a trying season for young Washington Capitals’ forward Andre Burakovsky. He registered two goals in the team’s season-opening game against the Pittsburgh Penguins but has failed to score again in the 26 games he has played since.

That slump, plus the play of Jakub Vrana and others led Burakovsky finding himself in the press box for a three-game stretch before finally getting back in the lineup against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Back in the lineup, the 21-year old Burakovsky attacked the Flyers with a vengeance, not only breaking out of his slump with a goal, but he also assisted on Lars Eller tally.

After receiving a slap-pass in stride from Dmitri Orlov, Burakovsky fired a shot from the left circle that beat Flyers’ goaltender Steve Mason with about 90-seconds left in the first period. Things continued right off the back in the second, with consecutive shifts pouring the shots on to the Flyers net until Eller finally put in a rebound on a play that originated with a Burakovsky shot on goal.

The Capitals’ third line was just as dominant possessing the puck as you would expect from the unit that collected both goals the team scored on the night.

Collectively, Burakovsky, Eller, and Vrana collected 70.3% of the shot attempts, as well as 64.2% of the high danger chances while they were on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. They did this despite collectively starting only 37.5% of their faceoffs in the offensive zone.

Head Coach Barry Trotz was looking for more production out of the team’s third line and was hoping that the benching of Burakovsky would give him time to get his head on straight. As the same article goes through, this wasn’t the first prolonged goal-scoring drought he has endured.

Burkovsky went 25 games in between goals last season but still ended up with 17 on the year. He is going to have a long mountain to climb to reach those totals, but there is still plenty of time in the season to get on a roll and make up for some lost time.

Remember last season, Burakovsky got hot and had a span of five straight games where he scored, registering six overall all. That streak was a part of a span that saw Burakovsky score eight goals in an 11 game span.

After a performance like he had against the Flyers, it shouldn’t be seen as a shock if he does go on a similar tear.

Anthony Murphy

Anthony is a contributing writer to Capitals Outsider. He has also written for The Hockey Writers, Last Word on Sports, Fansided, and Rant Sports in the past.

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