The Washington Capitals wrapped up their homestand with a huge 6-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche were fully healthy with Nathan MacKinnon in the lineup and it was the Caps first Western Conference opponent since March 1, 2020. Evgeny Kuznetsov has played well and on Tuesday night he was finally rewarded in a big way.
On the Caps sixth shot of the game, John Carlson fed a pass down the ice to Kuznetsov. He finished it off for his first goal of the season and he was ready with the bird celly. It came at 6:15 of the first.
The Avalanche tied it with a goal from J.T. Compher at 13:46. The Caps would answer a few minutes later at 16:53 on an odd man rush. Tom Wilson got it to Dmitry Orlov to Nick Jensen. Coming up the ice was Jensen, Orlov, and Alex Ovechkin. Jensen faked a pass to Ovechkin and shot it in for his first goal at Capital One Arena.
2-1 Caps was the score after the opening 20 minutes. The Caps led in shots by a whooping 19-5. They clearly showed up.
The Avs tied it with a goal from Darren Helm at 3:12. Later in the period the Caps would answer from none other than Anthony Mantha. Lars Eller shot the puck and Mantha was there in front of the net to rebound it in off the pads of goaltender Darcy Kuemper. The goal came at 14:47.
At 16:41 Kuznetsov scored his second goal of the game to make it 4-2. It was a snipe off passes from Wilson and Orlov. That was the score after two with shots even in the second period at eight apiece.
39 seconds into the third period, Nic Dowd rebounded in a goal off a shot from Jensen, Carl Hagelin had the secondary assist. Dowd was even from a sharp angle! Mikko Rantanen scored at 16:54 on the power playa to get the Avs closer but Ovechkin would put the game away with an empty netter for his fourth goal of the season and 734th of his career.
For Mantha it was the 100th goal of his career. For Garnet Hathaway it was the 300th game of his career. For Ovechkin? His 1,200th game and 734th goal. Overall a good night to be a Caps fan. But for Kuznetsov it was a night to really remember. He had a different attitude entering training camp and it has shown through three games this season:
"“The confidence always goes from the coaches and teammates, right? And I feel like I have a great relationship with the coaches and teammates and that always gives you a lot of confidence when you can be creative.”"
The Caps hit the road for a Thursday night contest with the New Jersey Devils before returning home to host the Calgary Flames on Saturday.