Artturi Lehkonen had two goals and two assists as the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Ross Colton, Mikko Rantanen and Miles Wood each had a goal and an assist, Devon Toews also scored and Alexandar Georgiev turned away 23 shots for the Avalanche, who snapped a four-game skid.
Nathan MacKinnon ended a three-game point drought with two assists, and Bowen Byram also had two assists for Colorado.
Alex Ovechkin, Beck Malenstyn and Connor McMichael scored goals, Anthony Mantha had two assists and Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves for Washington.
The Avalanche struck first when Colton skated down the middle of the ice, took a pass from Wood and beat Lindgren at 2:46 of the first period.
It was his 11th goal of the season.
Just over two minutes later, Toews got a pass at the point and sent a screened shot by Lindgren at 4:57 to make it 2-0. It was his ninth marker of the season.
The Capitals pulled even with two quick goals later in the first. Malenstyn made it 2-1 when he jumped on Martin Fehervary’s rebound and wristed a shot into an open net at 9:16, his fifth goal this season. Just 44 seconds later, McMichael’s pass to the front of the Colorado net went off Lehkonen’s skate and in to tie it up.
It was his eighth goal of the season.
The Avalanche grabbed the lead again in the second when Lehkonen’s wrist shot off Colton’s pass beat Lindgren at 8:50, and Rantanen made it 4-2 on the power play when he one-timed a backhanded pass from Lehkonen at 17:03. It was Rantanen’s 29th marker of the campaign.
Ovechkin pulled the Capitals within one when he scored his 14th goal of the season and the 836th of his career at 9:00 of the third.
Lindgren came off for an extra skater with 3:27 left, and Lehkonen scored into an empty net at 19:01 for his fifth goal of 2023-24. Wood added his ninth marker of the season, another empty-netter, at 19:27.
–Field Level Media
