Ovechkin stayed hot, but the Capitals fell 6-3 to the Avalanche.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals are seeing history play out in front of them, as Alex Ovechkin remains in vintage form as he continues his great chase. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for two points against the Colorado Avalanche.
Washington got another goal from Ovechkin and was able to recover from a rough go of it in the opening minutes while making a final push, but miscues and late empty-netters proved costly in a 6-3 loss to the Avalanche.
Here are all the takeaways from the defeat, which marks the Capitals' eighth loss in their last nine games.
Alex Ovechkin Stays Hot To Extend Goal Streak, But Comeback Attempt Falls Short
Alex Ovechkin can't be stopped, and the Capitals captain remained red-hot against Colorado.
Ovechkin, of course, scored in classic fashion, firing home a one-timer from the office on the power play to pull his team within one. He now has 14 goals on the year and has scored in six straight outings after managing just nine goals in the first half of the season.
This is Ovechkin's longest goal streak in years, and he is now up to 836 career goals. He needs just 59 more to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
The 38-year-old's goal proved to be a spark that D.C. needed as the team made a furious push late to get the equalizer and also saw the Russian hit the post later on. Their rally came up short, though, as Artturri Lehkonen and Miles Wood scored empty netters to secure the victory.
Capitals Catch Themselves After Surrendering Two Quick Goals In First
Coming off impressive back-to-back showings against two Conference-leading opponents, Washington was determined to keep the momentum going against Colorado. However, things didn't exactly start off on the right foot.
The Avalanche were able to sneak past the Capitals' defense and capitalize on a couple of early chances to make it 2-0 less than five minutes in. Still, Washington was able to quickly recover and get back to its game plan.
Beck Malenstyn struck first, leading a powerhouse fourth line of Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson and crashing the net to put his team within one. Malenstyn, who blocked seven shots on Sunday, was a force to be reckoned with as he found the scoresheet for the second time in the last three games while also playing a pivotal role on the other side of the puck.
Minutes later, Connor McMichael would end a 15-game goal drought when his pass to the front went off a skate and past Alexandar Georgiev. He now has points in three of his last four games.
Poor Reads & Errors In Second, Too Many Men Penalty Prove Costly In Loss
Washington had quite a few chances to get back in the game and even take the lead at one point with a number of power-play opportunities, but just couldn't solve Georgiev or get much going on the man advantage.
For Washington, mistakes proved costly against Colorado, and the Avalanche were able to capitalize in the second period.
Earlier in the frame, Ethan Bear got tangled up with the linesman and no one picked up on Lehkonen lurking backdoor for his first of the game, leading to an easy tap-in goal that put Colorado back in front.
Something similar happened on a late power play, as no one was keeping a close eye on Mikko Rantanen. Lehkonen was able to find him wide-open with a nice between-the-legs pass, and Rantanen made no mistake to make it a 4-2 game going into the third.
While Ovechkin's goal provided a spark and led to a comeback effort, those two goals would be the difference.
Capitals Debut New-Look Fourth Line
The Capitals also deployed a new-look fourth line against the Avalanche, putting Wilson with Dowd and Malenstyn in order to add another physical player and shutdown guy to match up against Nathan MacKinnon's line.
They logged heavy minutes against Colorado's top trio and shut things down for the most part, with the exception of Rantanen's PPG.