Colorado ended its four-game losing streak by sharpening the details of their game and regaining its competitive edge.

Colorado earned a much-needed win to bring their four-game losing streak to a halt. Although it was far from the team's best outing, it helped boost confidence to take into the next matchup against a tough Tampa Bay Lightning group. 

"Important, for sure — losing four kind of lose your confidence in every area basically ...," Mikko Rantanen said after the victory over the Washington Capitals. "Power play goal, we haven't scored since the break so I think that gives confidence. And 5-on-5 we obviously going to feel more confident with wins, it wasn't perfect the game, but just to get the two points it helps with the head." 

Jared Bednar referred to the Florida loss as one of the worst games his team has played this season but highlighted the effort shown by the Jonathan Drouin/Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O'Connor line. O'Connor was a last minute scratch that Bednar said was due to a lower-body injury, but Colton put the Avs on the board first with assists from Wood and Artturi Lehkonen in the 6-3 win over the Caps. 

Bednar said his team needed to be "dialed in" on the details of its game in order to win and that was the biggest issue in the shutout loss to the Florida Panthers. The Avs were more competitive in the Capitals game — which was another factor missing against the Cats. 

"We probably weren't competitive enough," Bednar said on Monday. "We lost a little bit on that side of things with the edge of our game but we were not in good support of the puck all night and they were." 

The Avs head coach said there was a positive response in the meetings and practice after the loss to Florida that he felt was going to get them back on track going into the matchup with Washington. 

"It's got to be specific because we're looking to give the players clarity," Bednar said. "I can't just go in there and say 'We didn't play hard enough, we didn't play well enough, our details were no good,' like you have to be specific in the areas that you feel are most important. There's lots of scoring chances against but that's a result of us not doing it right prior to that. So that's the types of things that I want to show — not just the final breakdown but what was happening leading into that."

Lehkonen had a four-point night against the Capitals which was his best since returning from being out nearly two months due to an upper-body injury. Bednar said it was important to have gotten production from players other than just Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. 

If they Avalanche can tighten up some defensive details and limit turnovers, they should be able to nab another two points against the Lightning before heading back to Denver after a 12-day road trip. 

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