In Denver, Alexander Georgiev made 37 saves on Tuesday night in a 3-2 win over the visiting Washington Capitals.
“We didn’t play our best game tonight. I’m happy that we were able to get the two points to put us up the standings again,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That’s our focus, and tonight I think the main reason we got that was because ‘Georgie’ was excellent in goal. He was our best player, for sure. We scored a couple timely goals, but we just didn’t look sharp. It wasn’t lack of focus, but it looked like we lacked energy.”
The win was the sixth straight for the Avs, who improved to 26-17-3.
Colorado took a 2-0 lead on a first goal from Artturi Lehkonen and a strike in the middle from Andrew Cogliano.
“It hit me in the thumb,” Cogliano said. “I think at the end of the day, guys like myself, that’s where goals will probably be scored most of the time. I beat my guy to the net and got a tip on it and got a body on it.”
Washington dropped to 25-19-6, they have lost five of seven.
“I thought the guys played hard,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “There were things on the goals that I wish we did better defensively. Mistakes, not from a lack of effort, just a little bit of the details. I thought our guys showed up and attacked from the get-go. And when you’re attacking like that, sometimes you leave yourself a little bit vulnerable.”
Conor Sheary, who had a marker in the second period, and Alex Ovechkin were the Caps goal scorers.
“I think it’s definitely something we can build off,” Sheary said. “In the beginning of the second, we didn’t come out to play and let them score that goal. That kind of hurt us, but overall, I think 50-55 minutes of that game we like the way we play. We controlled play, got a lot of chances, goalie made big saves at the end, and just wasn’t the result [we wanted].”
Alex Newhook scored at 15:39 of the second to give the Avalanche a 3-1 advantage.
“Great play by the [defenseman] there to get it out into a good spot, and wingers had good position, able to bump it back to me,” Newhook said. “I had a step on the guy, figured I’d try and take it to the net. It’s been clicking recently. My linemates are doing a great job getting me the puck, and vice versa, so just got to keep it rolling.”
Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in the loss.
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