It was one of those starts for the Capitals. Almost immediately after the opening faceoff the Avalanche had a breakaway chance thanks to their speed, and continued to do so for the first few minutes of the game before eventually finding the back of the net – twice – before the first period was five minutes old. The Capitals did not fold, though, and got two goals of their own from Beck Malenstyn and Connor McMicheal for a tied first period.
The Avalanche were the better team in the second period, outshooting the Capitals 10-6 and outattempting them at evens 22-11. That onslaught led to the return of the two-goal lead, with both Arturri Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen scoring goals, and the Capitals would end up chasing the rest of the game. An Alex Ovechkin power play goal in the third gave the team some life to cut the lead to one goal, but the team could not get the equalizer and ultimately ceded two empty net goals for a 6-3 finish.
Three Takeaways:
- The fight back in the first period was nice to see. The team has played better in its last four games against good teams, and part of that is the fact that being down a goal doesn’t completely take the energy out of the team.
- The top line of Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome and T.J. Oshie is playing well together. It’s the fourth game as a line, and according to natural stat trick, have a CF% of 54.43 together. Oshie looks healthy and is playing aggressive, winning puck battles and setting up scoring chances, Ovechkin looks like he is shooting again and, of course, Strome is stirring the drink.
- The Capitals were able to outshoot the Avalanche in the first period 12-10, but then managed only six shots in the second period and nine in the third period. In the five games since the All-Star break, the team has only hit 30 shots on goal twice but have outshot their opponents in three of the games. Only once, the Montreal game, have they had multiple periods with double-digit shots. It goes with their offensive woes but they are a weird shot volume team.
They said it: