In Washington, DC, Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen hit for a double on Tuesday night in a 65-3 win over the Capitals.
Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves in the win
The Avalanche moved to 33-17-4, snapping a four-game skid.
It wasn’t the perfect game, but often times coming out of when you’re playing not great, it isn’t,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You just need a big effort, and you need to pay attention to the right things and you’ve got to grind. You’ve got to work and grind. That’s what we did tonight.”
The two clubs traded two-goal outbursts in the opening stanza.
The Avs went first on the scoring.
Ross Colton staked the Avs to a 1-0 lead at 2:46 of the first on a breakaway strike.
Devon Toews doubled the advantage to 2-0 at 4:57 off a shot from the blue line through a maze of traffic.
The Caps responded with a pair of markers in a span of 42 seconds.
Beck Malenstyn trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 9:16 of the first off a rebound.
The the 10-minutes mark, Connor McMichael knotted the game, 2-2 with a deflection off the Avs’ Lehkonen.
“I thought we did a pretty good job as a group just taking that breath, regrouping and being able to come out there and get two quickly and be able to get back in the game,” Malenstyn said.
The Capitals dropped to 23-21-8, and extended their current woes to 1-6-2.
Lehkonen made amends for that tying goal when he scored at 8:50 of the middle frame off a shot from the right circle for a 3-2 lead to Colorado.
“Amazing player,” Georgiev said of Lehkonen. “He’s battling so hard. Just a full whatever-feet-the-rink is player, defends awesome and he makes plays offensively, too, so great to have him have a big night today.”
Mikko Rantanen extended the advantage to 4-2 with a power play strike at 17:03.
“Well, I was ready because he kind of handled it and he had it kind of in his feet,” Rantanen said. “So I tried to kind of creep down there and he was able to find me with the great between the legs. It was a great pass.”
With the Caps trailing by two in the third, Alex Ovechkin hit for a goal at the nine minute mark of the period to pull the Caps back to within one goal, 4-3.
“Another night where he scores on the power play,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “That’s a big goal. Gets us right back into it, so that is a positive for team, to be able to give us a fighting chance.”
That was all the offense the Capitals could muster, as the Avalanche hit for two empty-net markers in the final minutes o the game.
“I think the effort’s been there, but I think at the end of the day we’re not winning and we’re not good enough,” Washington’s Connor McMichael said. “The compete’s there, the effort’s there, but we’ve got to start capitalizing on our chances and tighten up on our mistakes.”
Lehkonen collected his double at 19:01 for a 5-3 lead.
Mikes Wood potted the second empty-netter at 19:27 for the 6-3 final count on the scoreboard.did so with 33 seconds remaining for the 6-3 final.
Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.