Colorado Avalanche defeated by Washington Capitals 3-2 in tight game
Ending their five-game winning streak, the Colorado Avalanche lost 3-2 in a tight game against the Washington Capitals.
It was a tight game against the Capitals, with all eyes on Alex Ovechkin and the Colorado Avalanche. Would the Avalanche continue their winning streak? Would Ovechkin finally break 700 goals? Tonight was full of questions that needed to be answered.
Unfortunately, the answer to both of those questions was no. The Avalanche lost the game 3-2 after starting with a 2-0 lead, and Ovechkin still hasn’t broken 700 goals. It was a night of disappointments, but hey, at least the Capitals did pull off a win!
Before we get to the recap, I have to highlight one specific Avalanche player who, despite the outcome, really deserves a special look. That player is Philipp Grubauer, who was the goalie for the Avalanche in this game.
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Despite the Avs not winning this game, Grubauer has brought home four out of the five wins of the Avalanche’s win streak, including a shutout against the Ottawa Senators. He’s a force to be reckoned with on the ice with a .915% save percentage, stopping goals in multiple impressive ways. He also managed to block Ovechkin’s shots tonight, which could not have been an easy feat.
Now, onto the recap!
First Period
In the first period, things looked bright for the Colorado Avalanche as they came in hot. Andre Burakovsky scored a slapshot goal at 2:54, with the assists going to Nathan MacKinnon and Vladislav Kamenev, currently playing for Nazem Kadri while he’s out on IR.
At 16:05, Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal, assisted by MacKinnon (again) and Burakovsky. Unfortunately, that would be the last time the Avalanche scored in the frustrating game between the two teams.
Second Period
After starting with a 2-0 lead and maintaining it halfway through the second period, at 11:37 Nicklas Backstrom scored a power-play goal with the assist of Jakub Vrana and John Carlson. This brought the score up to 2-1.
Third Period
In the third period, things heated up for the Capitals. At 12:48 they tied the game 2-2 when Tom Wilson scored a power-play goal, assisted by Carlson and Lars Eller. At 17:56, T.J. Oshie scored a tip-in goal, with the assist of Nick Jensen and Eller. This brought the score up to 3-2 and gave the Capitals the win.
The main issue in the game for the Avalanche seemed to be the penalties received. Tyson Jost, Erik Johnson, Joonas Donskoi, and Ian Cole all received penalties and, as Burakovsky put it, “There was a lot of penalties and the rhythm goes away a little bit.” As it stands, two of the three goals the Capitals scored were on the power-plays.
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It’s also important to note that during all of this, Nathan MacKinnon scored his 80th point of the season. He’s set a record for the quickest Avalanche/Quebec Nordique player to score 80 points since Joe Sakic in 1995-96.