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The Washington Capitals fell to the Colorado Avalanche, 4-0, Saturday night at Capital One Arena. The loss moved the Capitals’ record to 7-10-3 on the season.
LINES AND PAIRS
Darcy Kuemper got the start for the Capitals. Alexandar Georgiev started between the pipes for the Avalanche. The starting lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
and Avalanche continued to Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Connor Sheary
Sonny Milano – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Aliaksei Protas
Anthony Mantha – Lars Eller – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Marcus Johansson — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Extras: Alexander Alexeyev, Connor McMichael, Joe Snively, Dmitry Orlov
Injuries: Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie, Carl Hagelin, Connor Brown, Beck Malenstyn.
FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals and Avalanche skated to a scoreless draw for most of the first frame, then the Capitals fell into penalty trouble, giving the Avalanche a 5-on-3 power play for 90 seconds. The Avalanche would dent the twine with a tally from Cale Makar with 20 seconds left in the frame.
Cale Makar’s CANNON of a one-timer hits the back of the net for a 5-on-3 goal, Avalanche strike first!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/If42zEcqDO
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) November 20, 2022
The period would end with the Avalanche leading 1-0. Capitals led in shots on goal 14-8 in the opening frame. Colorado was 1 for 3 on the power play. The Capitals did not have a man advantage in the first frame.
SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals would fail to convert on a power play roughly halfway through the middle frame. Much like the first period, the two clubs played back-and-forth hockey with neither team able to dent the twine.
With 6:46 left in the frame, Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon scored his fifth goal of the season on assists from Josh Manson and Alex Newhook to give the Avs a 2-0 advantage.
Nathan MacKinnon getting past Nicolas Aube-Kubel pic.twitter.com/yGheG48lwU
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) November 20, 2022
The two teams headed into the second intermission with the visitors ahead by two, although the Caps led in shots 22-16; the two teams both fired an even eight pucks on the opposing goalie in the second 20 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals and Avalanche continued to play staunch defensive hockey, with both clubs trading chances. With neither club giving much in the way of poor play, hard work resulted in the Avs potting their third goal of the night on a tally from veteran NHLer Andrew Cogliano, who put home his second of the 2022-23 season at the 8:57 mark on assists from Jacob MacDonald and JT Compher.
Andrew Cogliano’s skate directs the rebound into the back of the net, pushing Colorado’s lead to 3!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/F4Q9pXFWQ4
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) November 20, 2022
Artturi Lehkonen would add a fourth Colorado goal late in the period to solidify the insurmountable deficit for Washington to climb.