In Denver, Marcus Johansson scored midway through the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and send the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche on Monday night.
The Caps are now one point back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for third in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s a good time to get our game going and get the right mindset,” Johansson said. “We’re playing great teams, and this is the way we want to play. It’s going to be like this in the playoffs. It was a fun atmosphere out there tonight.”
Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves in the Caps win.
Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen were the Avs strikers.
“I thought we played hard. We competed hard. It was a physical game,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I liked our competitiveness. I didn’t like our execution. Give them some credit. They put some pressure on us, and they were above outlets and whatnot. But we had a turnover on goal one. We had a turnover going backwards on goal three, and it took away a little bit of our offensive output tonight.”
Colorado dropped to 55-15-6.
Alex Ovechkin hit for a power play goal in the Caps win.
“How can you not be [amazed], right? I mean, he keeps doing it,” Johansson said. “It’s fun to watch. It hasn’t changed since I left, and yeah, it’s unbelievable.”
The Caps took an early lead off a breakaway goal Garner from Hathaway
“[Johan Larsson] made a good play to get it behind their ‘D’, and that’s kind of something we were working on going into the game,” Hathaway said. “Trying to get their ‘D’ to turn around, pressure them. Make them make plays under pressure. So yeah, it bounced by [the defender], and I just tried to [win] a stick battle and it bounced my way.”
Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves in the Avs loss.
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