Washington Capitals Game 77 Recap: Caps set season high in shots in win over Avalanche

OVECHKIN NETS NO. 46, BEAGLE GETS FANCY AS CAPS DUMP AVALANCHE

Alex Ovechkin scored his 46th goal of the season to lead the Washington Capitals over the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Friday night.

Facing a desperate Avalanche team that needed a win to stay in the playoff hunt, the Capitals (55-16-6) showed that the offense may be back on track — just in time for the playoffs.

Play and goal of the night go to Mr. Jay Beagle. With a great defensive takeaway behind the Avalanche goal he turned the puck and put it behind the back of netminder Seymon Varlamov. See below:

Beagle goal pic.twitter.com/c9pcz3J14O

— Stephanie (@myregularface) April 2, 2016

Ovechkin decided to give the Caps a little breathing room when the Caps went onto the power play at 12:57 of the second. Marcus Johansson swept the puck from one side of the net right in front of Varlamov and onto the stick of a streaking Ovechkin, who took the shot from just in front of the crease. A space-giving goal at the right time.

Goal No. 3 came a minute and a half later off a deflection pass right from the point. Mike Richards took a wicked snap that Jason Chimera was able to just tap to put it past the Avalanche.

The final icing on the cake came when T.J Oshie raced down the ice to put in the empty net goal with just 10 seconds left — an excellent hustle from Oshie to seal a Caps victory.

The Avalanche were able to pose a minor threat when Jarome Iginla took the opportunity to net one after Matt Niskanen had been put in the sin bin. With less than a minute left, Ignalia was able to sneak into the crease behind Braden Holtby and the defense and put one in.

The pressure was notched up once again when the Avalanche made some noise in front of the goal and on their second chance shot after a rebound put it in. The score hit 3-2 Caps at 14:21 of the third.

Braden Holtby played a relatively solid night despite the couple he let in, stopping 17 of 19 shots. He and Ovechkin became the NHL’s first 46 win-46 goal duo in history, and he’s one win short of matching Martin Brodeur’s league record for most wins in a season.

On the other end, the Caps took 47 shots, a marked improvement over the past month of play and a record under coach Barry Trotz. Varlamov played an excellent game, but the Caps offense is hopefully coming alive at the right time.

CAPS NOTES: Nicklas Backstrom was a scratch with an upper body injury. No word about his potential play Saturday at Arizona.

Next Game: The Caps play Saturday night for their final late game of the season,  10 p.m. at the Arizona Coyotes.