Colorado and Washington have been teams heading in opposite directions since they met in each team’s third game of the 2016-17 season. In that game Washington handed Colorado it’s first loss of the season, evening both team’s records at 2-1. Since that time the Capitals have picked up another 49 victories while the Avs have gone on to lose 52 more, including Wednesday night at home to those very same Capitals. Five different Washington skaters scored in a 5-3 game that moves the Capitals one step closer to a President’s Trophy. It was Colorado’s seventh consecutive loss and Washington’s sixth consecutive win.
John Carlson scored on a Washington power play four minutes into the opening period at Pepsi Center on Wednesday. Mikko Rantanen leveled things for the Avalanche at 11:11 with a nifty wrist shot, but Jay Beagle deflected a shot from former Avs first-round pick Kevin Shattenkirk just 30 seconds later to reclaim the lead at the end of one.
Washington stretched their lead with another power play goal in the second, this one from Marcus Johansson. Later in the period Johansson would assist Evgeny Kuznetsov to give the Capitals a comfortable 4-1 margin just past the midway point. Matt Nieto scored for Colorado to cut the lead in half and Nathan MacKinnon scored again in the third to bring the Avs within one. That was as close as they would get, though. Lars Eller scored on an empty net to seal Washington’s league-best 51st win.
Colorado hosts St. Louis on Friday to close out the month of March. The Avalanche are trying to snap a seven-game losing streak and avoid matching a season-high nine-game losing streak. It is their sixth losing streak of at least five games this season. Their season-high nine-game losing streak stretched from Jan. 12 through Feb. 1.
