Monday's game between the Caps and the Colorado Avalanche at Denver's Ball Arena pitted the League's best road team (Washington) and its best home team (Colorado). Having earned a playoff berth the day before via an Islanders loss, Monday's game didn't carry a lot of meaning for Washington on paper, but the Caps treated it like a must-win playoff game, and they came away with an impressive 3-2 win over the Avs at night's end.
Caps Drop Avs, 3-2
Johansson snaps 2-2 tie midway through third, lifting Washington to its sixth win in its last seven games
Marcus Johansson snapped a 2-2 tie with what would prove to be the game-winning goal at 10:46 of the third period, converting a sublime feed from Conor Sheary, who forced a turnover on the forecheck to start the play. Sheary picked Darren Helm's pocket in Colorado ice, then sauced a feed over to Johansson, whose one-timer from the inside of the right circle beat Kuemper and eventually, the Avs.
"I saw that forward try to bump it to the [defenseman], and I just read it," recounts Sheary. "If he held onto it, it might have been an odd man rush the other way. It's just a chance I took, and I was able to pick it off, and then I had a couple of options; [Nicklas Backstrom] and Jo were both open. It was a great shot by Jo; it's just one of those plays that's just read and react."
"It was unbelievable," says Johansson of Sheary's work on his goal. "Both the takeaway and the pass were top class. It was fun to see that one go in."
Washington never trailed, handing Colorado its first regulation loss to an Eastern Conference opponent on home ice this season. The Caps have won six of their last seven visits here to Denver, and they clearly warmed to the task of going up against the NHL's top team.
"When you're playing a team like that, it has your attention right away," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "And so the details are important and the work ethic is important. Right from the start, I thought our guys were good.
"It was great to come in here and play against what is right now the top team in the League, and play them well."
Washington got on the board first, taking an early 1-0 lead on a Garnet Hathaway goal. Under some pressure deep in Washington territory, Justin Schultz backhanded the puck up the wall for Johan Larsson, who sent it further up the wall to space near the Colorado line. Hathaway raced Avs defenseman Jack Johnson to the puck, lifting the blueliner's stick, taking the puck for himself and cutting toward the cage. From the left dot, he beat Darcy Kuemper to the far side to give the Caps a lead at 4:02 of the first.
The Caps survived a Colorado power play in which the Avs put a lot of heat on them; four of Ilya Samsonov's 10 saves in the first came while the Avalanche had the manpower advantage.
Late in the first, the Avs pulled even when Valeri Nichushkin took a feed from Bowen Byram and beat Samsonov from the left dot to even the game at 17:05 of the first frame.
Midway through the second, the Caps and Avs managed to play nearly 100 seconds worth of 4-on-4 hockey without any goals being scored, a welcome change after Washington's last two games resulted in a total of seven goals scored at 4-on-4, four of them by the Caps.
Soon after that sequence passed, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin drew a tripping penalty on Colorado's Nico Sturm, putting Washington on its first full, two-minute power play of the game. Ovechkin scored on the ensuing power play to put the Caps back into the lead.
John Carlson pounded the puck wide right of the Colorado net, and Evgeny Kuznetsov was right there to collect the carom and bump it to Ovechkin, who had an easy tap in from the top of the paint to lift the Caps to a 2-1 advantage at 13:27 of the middle period.
Colorado pulled even again when Artturi Lehkonen scored on a goalmouth scramble at 8:13 of the third, essentially pushing Samsonov's pad and the puck into the net with his stick. Washington issued a coach's challenge, alleging goaltender interference, but officials upheld the call on the ice. The game was even at 2-2, and the Caps were assessed a delay of game penalty, putting Colorado's lethal power play on the ice with a chance to give the Avs the lead.
Washington killed off the penalty, and less than a minute later Sheary and Johansson combined to put the Caps back on top for good. The Caps kept their foot on the gas late, and the Avs needed an excellent save from Kuemper on an Anthony Mantha breakaway bid to keep the Caps within one.
The Caps are the first team in 14 games to hold the high-octane Avs below 30 shots; Samsonov stopped 24 of 26 shots he faced in nailing down his 22nd win of the season. Samsonov's teammates chipped in as well, blocking 23 shots in front of him.
"It was just a real team effort," says Sheary. "Up and down our lineup, everyone did their job, and did what they had to. We got timely scoring, our power play stepped up, our penalty kill stepped up.
"Your awareness is a little bit heightened when you have skill like that on the other side, and the top team in the League. You know they're dangerous, and I think it was just commitment from everyone - from the goaltender on out - that we were going come in and win a game, and we did a good job of that."
