Alexandar Georgiev had 32 saves for his first shutout of the season and ninth of his career, Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals 4-0 on Saturday night.
Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist and Cale Makar and Andrew Cogliano also scored for Colorado, which has won the first two games of its three-game road trip.
Darcy Kuemper turned away 25 shots against his former team. Kuemper was in net when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in June.
The Capitals outshot Colorado 14-3 through most of the first period but took two minor penalties 34 seconds apart near the end of the frame. The Avalanche capitalized on the five-on-three advantage when Makar’s one-timer from the left circle beat Kuemper at 19:39.
It was his fourth goal of the season.
Washington continued to put pressure on Georgiev but he made a couple of big saves to keep Colorado in the lead. MacKinnon added to the advantage when he got the puck near the point along the left boards, stickhandled down to the left circle and wristed a shot through traffic that beat Kuemper under the crossbar on the far side at 13:14 of the second.
It was his fifth of the season.
The Capitals had a few prime scoring chances early in the third period. Georgiev made a glove save on Evgeny Kuznetsov on an odd-man rush at 2:33, and a few minutes later Anthony Mantha had a clear shot that was stopped by Georgiev.
The Avalanche took advantage of the good goaltending and expanded their lead moments later. Kuemper made a save on Jacob MacDonald’s slapshot from the left circle but couldn’t glove the puck. Instead, it bounced off Cogliano’s skate and trickled through the crease and in at 8:57.
It was his second goal of the season.
Lehkonen sealed it when he scored on a one-timer at 16:12, his sixth goal of the season and third in as many games.
–Field Level Media
