First Period
Colorado opened the scoring less than four minutes into the
game when Erik Johnson let fly with a low shot from the left point that snuck
under the pads of Braden Holtby. Former
Capital Andre Burakovsky was credited with the secondary assist on the goal.
The Avs doubled their lead barely two minutes later, Nikita
Zadovov taking a feed from Mikko Rantanen in the middle of the ice, pulled the
puck to his forehand as he was turning, and wired a shot past Holtby’s glove at
the 6:00 mark.
Colorado scored their third goal on their third shot less
than two minutes later, Nazem Kadri sending a last past Holtby’s glove at the
7:54 mark. That would end Holtby’s night
in favor of Ilya Samsonov.
The change in goal did not have the intended effect, the Avs
adding their lead with a power play goal before the 10-minute mark, Rantanen
beating Samsonov on (yes…) the glove side from the right wing circle at the
9:25 mark.
-- How bad was it?
COL 4 – Caps 0… COL 1-3 on power play – Caps 0-0… COL 10 SOG – Caps 4
SOG… COL 21 shot attempts – Caps 14 shot attempts… COL 14-for-24 on faceoffs
(58.3 percent)… COL 10 skaters with “plus” rating – Caps 13 skaters with “minus”
rating
-- Alex Ovechkin (2), Lars Eller, and Radko Gudas had the
only shots on goal for the Caps.
-- The Caps had 11 skaters without a shot attempt
Second Period
The period started in sloppy fashion with both teams taking
a pair of penalties by the time the period was barely five minutes old. The second for each team was part of a
coincidental set of penalties that put the teams 4-on-4. On the 4-on-4, Alex Ovechkin forced a
turnover, and Lars Eller picked up the loose puck. Skating down the middle, he flashed as if he
would cut across the slot and then lifted a forehand over goalie Philipp
Grubauer’s blocker to make it 4-1, 6:56 into the period.
The Caps started throwing their size around, and late in the
period they took another bite out of the Colorado lead. From the right wing wall, Evgeny Kuznetsov slid
the puck to Dmitry Orlov above the circles.
Orlov moved the puck low to T.J. Oshie between the hash marks. Oshie skated across the slot and slid a
backhand under the right pad of Grubauer to make it 4-2 at the 15:28 mark.
-- The Caps out-shot the Avalanche, 16-7, in the period and
out-attempted them, 26-19.
-- Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson led the team with three shots
on goal apiece through two periods; Ovechkin led in shot attempts with six.
-- Lars Eller was 9-for-11 on faceoffs through two periods
(81.8 percent).
Third Period
The momentum the Caps built over the second period was washed
away in the fifth minute when Ilya Samsonov mishandled the puck behind his own
net, Matt Nieto taking advantage of the error to swat the puck past a lunging
Samsonov 4:24 into the period to make it 5-2.
The Caps found it difficult to restore the momentum, but
they made things interesting late. Alex
Ovechkin fired a one timer from the top of the zone that struck a Colorado
defender’s stick and bounced through the pads of Grubauer at the 17:39
mark. Just 15 seconds later, John Carlson
got the Caps within one when he snapped the puck from a difficult angle to
Grubauer’s right over his left shoulder and under the crossbar to make it a
one-goal game.
But wait! Colorado
challenged the goal for the play being offside, and the replay clearly showed
that an attempted dump-in that was blocked by an Avalanche defender did not
cross the blue line before T.J. Oshie circled into the offensive zone. The goal was taken off the board, and the
score remained 5-3.
Nathan MacKinnon added an empty net goal with 39.2 seconds
left, and the Caps dropped their third straight game on home ice to open the
season, 6-3.
Other stuff…
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov’s assist on the T.J. Oshie goal in the
second period gave him points in each of the four games in which he appeared so
far this season.
-- Defenseman Tyler Lewington skated only one shift in the
second period.
-- The Caps saw a five-game winning streak against the
Avalanche in Washington come to an end.
-- Alex Ovechkin’ goal made it three straight games with at
least one, four in all.
-- With a goal and an assist, Ovechkin extended his own team
record for multi-point games to 345 in his career.
-- Lars Eller finished the game 12-for-16 (75 percent) on
faceoffs.
-- John Carlson was minus-3.
The last time he finished with that rating or worse was November 1,
2018, when he was minus-4 in a 6-4 loss in Montreal to the Canadiens. The last time he was minus-3 or worse on home
ice was October 14, 2014, when he was minus-4 in a 6-5 Gimmick loss to the San
Jose Sharks.
-- Tyler Lewington had a rough night. Twelve shifts, 8:39 in ice time, 17 penalty
minutes, no shot attempts (the only Capital not to have one), and minus-2.
-- Ditto for Richard Panik, who skated only 7:28 (team low)
and had only two shifts in the third period, none in the last 13 minutes.
-- As a result of the quirky scoring manner of the NHL, the
loss for this game goes to Ilya Samsonov, who allowed the fourth goal to the
Avs, despite Braden Holtby allowing three goals on three shots in 7:54 of ice
time.
In the end…
The Caps let the Avalanche dictate pace early, and the Avs
put the Caps back on their heels as a result.
By the time that Washington figured out they could throw their weight
around, the hole was far too deep from which to dig. And with the loss, the Caps lost their third
straight game on home ice to open the season.
It is the first time that the Caps have been winless in three games to
open the home portion of their schedule since 1983-1984, when the Caps lost to
the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Quebec Nordiques to open
the home ice schedule. The Nordiques,
you might recall, moved to Colorado in 1994-1995 and became the Colorado
Avalanche.
