He hasn’t scored a goal in 26 straight games and doesn’t have a point in seven straight. It’s a contract year for him, too, something that has weighed on him during this slump. It all amounts to over-thinking, and perhaps a period of observation is the solution.

“Every day, I’ve been trying to work through this,” Burakovsky said Friday. “It’s tough. I mean, when you’ve gotten in your head, it’s really tough to get out of it. But the only thing that’s been in my head is that I’ve not been able to score and have the points that I’m supposed to have, what everyone is expecting. And obviously, it’s a big year for me, so that might have been in my head a little bit, too. That’s just the things I have to get rid of and start over.”

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The Capitals’ game against the Islanders was Burakovsky’s first healthy scratch of the season, punctuating what has been a disappointing start. After scoring two goals in the season opener, Burakovsky hasn’t scored in the 26 games since, eclipsing the 25-game goal drought he had last season. Capitals Coach Barry Trotz scratched him in consecutive games then, too, and Burakovsky ultimately finished the season with 17 goals.

Brett Connolly, who replaced Burakovsky in the lineup Tuesday night, scored a goal, earning another game in the lineup against Carolina. Trotz said there’s no timetable for when Burakovsky might play again, though Burakovsky seemed to be confident it would be soon.

“Andre is going to work on his game,” Trotz said. “He’s going to get a chance to reset, if you will, and watch from above. Sometimes that’s good for some players. You can have discussions, linemates can have discussions, coaches, show film — we can do all those things, but sometimes you just have to take a step back. He’s got to figure it out a little by himself, but at the same time, when you’re not part of it, you get to look at it from a different perspective. … He’ll get to look at the game from a little different perspective, and sometimes with a young guy, that’s part of the learning process. The other learning process is when you’ve got that desperation to get back in the lineup, you tend to kick it up to the next level.”

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Said Burakovsky: “We’re going to have a fresh restart and not think about it all and just start over from the beginning. So he wanted me to just rest a game and be back in pretty soon. Obviously, I think the team did a really good game last game, so I’ll be out for one more, and then hopefully I’ll be in and bounce back and do what I’m supposed to do.”

What’s Burakovsky trying to watch for when he’s out of the lineup?

“I like to carry the puck a lot, and that could be one of my problems, that I like to carry it a certain time when I just need to chip it down instead,” Burakovsky said. “My whole life I’ve kind of been doing that, and my whole life I’ve been having success with it. Now, you’re in the best league in the world, and it really doesn’t work like it used to. So, I’m just trying to make my game a little bit more simple, just trying to look at what the other guys are doing to make it simple.