Andre Burakovsky will not be in the Washington Capitals lineup on Tuesday night when the team takes on the New York Islanders.
Coach Barry Trotz announced before the game (via Mike Vogel) that the 21-year-old forward will be a healthy scratch as he continues to struggle through a scoring slump that has resulted in him not recording a point in his past seven games.
Before Tuesday’s scratch that slump had resulted in his role being significantly reduced, playing less than 10 minutes in each of the Capitals’ past two games.
He is going to be replaced in the lineup on the team’s third line by Brett Connolly.
Burakovsky, the team’s first round pick (No. 23 overall) in 2013, is a skilled forward that has shown a lot of promise over the first two years of his career, especially in 2015-16 when he scored 17 goals while only playing 13 minutes per night and receiving little time on the power play.
His 17 even-strength goals were good enough for third on the team, behind only Alex Ovechkin and Justin Williams. It was a promising year for a player that should still be a big piece of the Capitals future.
But it’s been a different story this season as the results have simply not been there, even if he is probably playing better than the boxscore numbers might indicate.
After scoring a pair of goals in the season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins he has not found the back of the net in 26 consecutive games.