The Colorado Avalanche and Washington Capitals face off Tuesday night in Washington DC. Colorado desperately needs a win, with this game now highlighted on everyone’s calendars to get back on track.
These two teams did face off at the end of January right before the NHL All-Star Break. The Avs took care of business in a 6-2 win, and are looking for a similar result.
Colorado Avalanche (32-17-4)
The Avs lost 4-0 down in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday night in what some would call a disastrous performance against the Florida Panthers. They didn’t show much fight and were down for the count early and often.
This has been the case for the entirety of their current six-game road trip. In the last four games, they are 0-3-1 and haven’t shown much consistent fight outside of the first game against the New York Rangers.
They also didn’t have Nathan MacKinnon at the end of the previous game with an injury after falling on his face. He is good to go tonight, and perhaps with a battle scar, will try and get the Avs back on track with a win.
Projected Lines
Jonathan Drouin (27) — Nathan MacKinnon (29) — Mikko Rantanen (96)
Arturri Lehkonen (62) — Ross Colton (20) — Logan O’Connor (25)
Miles Wood (28) — Fredrik Olofsson (22) — Zach Parise (9)
Andrew Cogliano (11) — Ryan Johansen (12) — Joel Kiviranta (94)
Devon Toews (7) — Cale Makar (8)
Sam Girard (49) — Josh Manson (42)
Jack Johnson (3) — Bowen Byram (4)
Alexandar Georgiev (40)
Washington Capitals (23-20-8)
Washington is on a nice streak at the moment, especially compared to the last time they faced the Avs a couple of weeks ago. This comes despite a hard-fought 3-2 overtime loss Sunday against the league-leading Vancouver Canucks.
This includes a mini-resurgence of the great Alexander Ovechkin, who has scored in five straight games. One of his goals in this stretch was an empty-netter against the Boston Bruins, which gave him the honor of most empty-net goals of all time, passing Wayne Gretzky.
It has helped pull the Caps closer to the playoff race, but still are six points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild-card spot. Will a win against the Avs help their case in making a playoff push?
Projected Lines
Alex Ovechkin (8) — Dylan Strome (17) — T.J. Oshie (77)
Aliaksei Protas (21) — Connor McMichael (24) — Anthony Mantha 39)
Max Pacioretty (67) — Michael Sgarbossa (23) — Tom Wilson (43)
Beck Malenstyn (47) — Nic Dowd (26) — Nicolas Aube-Kubel (96)
Martin Fehervary (42) — John Carlson (74)
Rasmus Sandin (38) — Nick Jensen (3)
Joel Edmundson (6) — Ethan Bear (25)
Darcy Kuemper (35)
Broadcast Details
Time: 5:00 p.m. MT
Watch: Altitude, MNMT, ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio FM 92.5, AM 950
Opponent’s Beat: Japers’ Rink