NHL Gamecenter – Corsica – Natural Stat Trick
The high-flying Colorado Avalanche came to town Monday night at Capital One Arena. Let’s get frosty, everyone!
Here’s Monday night’s plus/minus:
Plus: Well, despite going down 4-0 in the first period, Washington never quit on this game.
Minus: The fact that they went down 4-0 in the first period.
And now, this:
Ten more notes on the game:
1. After dropping the Stars in Dallas in perhaps their first complete sixty minutes of hockey, the Capitals would try to birth a little baby winning streak by doubling up against the Colorado Avalanche at home.
2. Back in the home barn with the Avalanche were two familiar faces: goalie Philipp Grubauer and winger Andre Burakovsky. Would it be warm welcome, or a cold homecoming for the ex-Caps?
3. A couple minutes into this contest, the Avalanche would start to roll. With Burakovsky screening Braden Holtby, Colorado’s Erik Johnson ripped a boomer from the point that squirted in to give the Avs a very early 1-0 lead.
4. Just minutes later, Nikita Zadorov capitalized on a pair of huge defensive breakdowns by John Carlson, who failed to keep the puck in the zone then blew his assignment, and just like that it was 2-0 Colorado.
5. And can you say Three shots, three goals? Because just another couple minutes later, Colorado’s Nazem Kadri blew Tyler Lewington’s doors off coming around the corner. Suddenly the Avalanche were up 3-0 just seven minutes into the game.
6. That was all she wrote for Braden Holtby. He got the hook, and Ilya Samsonov got the nod for the Caps.
7. Aaaaaaaaaand just four minutes later, with the Avs on the power play, Mikko Rantanen made it 4-0 Colorado. That was the score when the first period, mercifully, came to an end.
8. Youngster Tyler Lewington tried to reinvigorate the Caps with a fight at the start of the second frame, but all he really accomplished was racking up an instigator penalty and 17 minutes of PIM.
9. Seven minutes into the second, Washington would finally stop the bleeding. Alex Ovechkin forced a turnover in the offensive zone and fed Lars Eller, who beat Grubauer and made it 4-1 Avs.
10. And the Caps kept pouring it on! With four minutes remaining in the second, Dmitry Orlov found T.J. Oshie with a quick pass, and Oshie hit the three-wheel motion to beat Grubauer forehand-backhand and in. Suddenly, the lead had been halved to 4-2 heading into the final intermission.
11. But calamity would strike for the surging Caps in the third. Ilya Samsonov, God bless him, misplayed a puck behind the net a la Marc-Andre Fleury. Tyson Jost stole it, and Matt Nieto made the Caps pay, ending the comeback 5-3.
Alex Ovechkin would get one more for the Caps to make it 5-4, but a final empty-netter made the final score 6-3 Colorado.
Well, the Capitals got absolutely smoked in this one, despite the brave comeback. Also, Jonas Siegenthaler appeared to take a Nathan MacKinnon elbow high, and left the game early. An already-decimated Washington defensive corps can hardly stand to lose another starter, so keep an eye on that.
Next up for the Caps is the Maple Leafs at home on Wednesday.