The Colorado Avalanche came into the game on Monday afternoon looking for blood. The Washington Capitals came to town and would feel the wrath of the angry Avalanche club looking to recover after a blowout on Friday. Nine players for Colorado tallied points in the 5–2 victory, with one hitting the scoresheet for the first time this season.

View from the Mountaintop

Colorado allowed way too many high-danger chances throughout the game by the Capitals. Through three periods of play, the Avalanche allowed 14 chances. A steal by Alex Ovechkin from Josh Manson allowed the setup for Ethen Frank right in front of the crease. Later in the second period, Dylan Strome had another great opportunity right in front of the net. He crashed the net untouched, and goaltender Scott Wedgewood forced him to take a backhand shot.

Brock Nelson is showing a lot of confidence in his play at the moment. As he should. In the last 10 games, Nelson has scored 10 goals and five assists. We had questions about whether he was a good fit for the Avalanche. But it looks as though he is since he is one of the few players that have been scoring on the power for Colorado.

Nathan MacKinnon came to the game with a mission, and it was to win the game no matter what. He was driving hard through the neutral zone and hard towards the net. And after the loss against Nashville, nobody wanted to win this game more than he did. His power-play goal in the second period would help swing the momentum towards the Avs along with his assist on Artturi Lehkonen’s goal in the third. The goal came just moments after an overturned goal for goaltender interference. With the three-point night, MacKinnon hit 1,100 career points.

Valeri Nichushkin was a late scratch before the game with an upper-body injury. He had been in a car accident on the way to the arena but escaped the wreck with minor injuries. Alex Barre-Boulet was called up from the Colorado Eagles for the first time this season to play in his place. Barre-Boulet played less than four minutes, but would tally an assist on Parker Kelly’s opening goal.

Up Next

The Avalanche wrap up their homestand with the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. MT. Altitude Sports will broadcast the game.