The sweep of the NHL schedule is a single contest from Monday night. The Washington Capitals hosted the Colorado Avalanche and won, 2-1.
Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winner on the power play late in the second period.
It was his 75th career game-winning goal, a new franchise record.
Alex Ovechkin – file photo by Brent Clark
“It’s a good [accomplishment],” Ovechkin said. “Just have to keep going like we’re doing right now.”
Braden Holtby made his 19th straight start and stopped 31 shots for the win.
“I think our whole team, we keep rolling, we keep trying to do the right things to improve and when you do that, you really gain trust in all your teammates,” Holtby said. “You can tell our whole lineup trusts each other out there and that makes you feel calmer as an individual. It’s not just me, it’s everyone.”
Caps head coach Barry Trotz was pleased with the outcome but chided Ovechkin after the win.
“I didn’t think [Ovechkin] was particularly good for [Ovechkin] standards today,” Trotz said. “Missing the net a little bit, fumbling pucks and all that, but who scores the winning goal? Alex Ovechkin. There’s something about that, when you need that goal, they find ways to score. And he does. That’s a tribute to what he’s done here in Washington.”
The Avs had a chance to tie the game in the late moments of the game when Colorado pulled Semyon Varlamov for the extra attacker.
“We had to respond [to Washington’s second period],” Patrick Roy said. “Obviously, we were not happy about the second period. We had to have a better turn and I thought our effort was there in the third. Obviously we couldn’t find a way to score that big goal to tie the game, but we had a lot of good chances and their goalie made some good saves.”
Alex Tanguay just missed his second of the game on the backhand.
“Both goalies played really well tonight,” Avalanche forward Matt Duchene said. “We generated some good chances. I thought we did some good things. Our second period [stunk], but our first and third were pretty good. We put it on them pretty hard [in the third period]. We had some good chances. It’s disappointing we couldn’t get the goal.”
The Caps face the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday.
“I don’t believe it’s a hot streak,” Trotz said. “A hot streak is when you’re winning games when you’re not supposed to. I think our consistency has been good. Our commitment and our detail have been good. We’re not just a team having a good month.”
MONDAY’S RESULTS
Philadelphia 7 – Tampa Bay 3
Los Angeles 2 – Toronto 0
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