Georgiev, Avalanche defeat Capitals for 6th straight win

DENVER -- Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche held on to win their sixth straight game, 3-2 against the Washington Capitals at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Nathan MacKinnon got his 700th NHL point, and Logan O'Connor had two assists for the Avalanche (26-17-3), who have outscored their opponents 25-8 during the run.
"We didn't play our best game tonight. I'm happy that we were able to get the two points to put us up the standings again," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "That's our focus, and tonight I think the main reason we got that was because 'Georgie' was excellent in goal. He was our best player, for sure. We scored a couple timely goals, but we just didn't look sharp. It wasn't lack of focus, but it looked like we lacked energy."
Conor Sheary and Alex Ovechkin scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves for the Capitals (25-19-6), who have lost five of seven.
"I thought the guys played hard," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "There were things on the goals that I wish we did better defensively. Mistakes, not from a lack of effort, just a little bit of the details. I thought our guys showed up and attacked from the get-go. And when you're attacking like that, sometimes you leave yourself a little bit vulnerable."

Artturi Lehkonen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 8:57 of the first period when MacKinnon poked the puck to him between the face-off circles and Lehkonen shot over Kuemper's blocker.
Andrew Cogliano extended the lead to 2-0 when he deflected Kurtis MacDermid's shot from the blue line at 2:04 of the second period.
"It hit me in the thumb," Cogliano said. "I think at the end of the day, guys like myself, that's where goals will probably be scored most of the time. I beat my guy to the net and got a tip on it and got a body on it."

Sheary cut it to 2-1 at 4:48 when he redirected Martin Fehervary's shot from the blue line down and beat Georgiev's five-hole.
"I think it's definitely something we can build off," Sheary said. "In the beginning of the second, we didn't come out to play and let them score that goal. That kind of hurt us, but overall, I think 50-55 minutes of that game we like the way we play. We controlled play, got a lot of chances, goalie made big saves at the end, and just wasn't the result [we wanted]."
Alex Newhook pushed the lead to 3-1 at 15:39 when he skated down the right side on the rush and beat Kuemper far side with a snap shot. It was his fourth goal in six games.
"Great play by the [defenseman] there to get it out into a good spot, and wingers had good position, able to bump it back to me," Newhook said. "I had a step on the guy, figured I'd try and take it to the net. It's been clicking recently. My linemates are doing a great job getting me the puck, and vice versa, so just got to keep it rolling."

Ovechkin cut it to 3-2, scoring his 31st goal short-side with a one-timer from the left dot at 9:44 of the third period. He had three shots in 23:32 after missing one game with a lower-body injury.
"I'm not going to say I was 100 percent, but I was able to play," Ovechkin said. "I think if we're going to play like that we're going to win lots of games."
Jared Bednar got his 266th victory to become the winningest coach in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, passing Michel Bergeron, in his 500th game. Bednar is 266-185-49 in seven seasons.
"I'm glad it's here and gone so we can stop talking about it, to be honest with you," Bednar said.
NOTES: Capitals forward Tom Wilson left in the second period with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot from Avalanche defenseman Brad Hunt. He's day to day. … Washington forward Nicklas Backstrom was a late scratch with a non-COVID illness and is day to day. … Kuemper and forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel played their first game in Colorado since winning the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche last season. … MacKinnon has 255 goals and 445 assists in 673 games in 10 seasons, all with Colorado. Only four active players have required more games to reach 700 points, Connor McDavid (488), Sidney Crosby (497), Ovechkin (579) and Evgeni Malkin (580). MacKinnon is the first player from the 2013 NHL Draft Class and the fourth Avalanche skater since the franchise relocated from Quebec to reach the milestone. … MacKinnon has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in the past nine games. … Erik Johnson played his 700th NHL game with the Avalanche, the second defenseman in franchise history to reach the milestone (Adam Foote, 967).