McMichael leads the Capitals with 12 goals this season.
The Washington Capitals had a tall task ahead of them at a higher altitude, with the Colorado Avalanche the healthiest — and hungriest — they've been all season and D.C. needing a bounce-back showing after a telling loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier in the week. And they delivered.
Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois led the way with multi-point games, and the Capitals got back to their game and identity with a convincing 5-2 win over Colorado.
Here are the takeaways from the victory:
McMichael Stays Hot, Dazzles To Climb NHL Leaderboard
This season has been a revelation for Connor McMichael, who's made the most of his move to the second-line left wing. He has been one of the team's most dominant players to open the campaign, and he kept it going with another star-studded showing against the Avalanche.
Minutes after ringing a shot off the crossbar on a power-play attempt, McMichael got on the board, scoring off a rocket of a shot to make it a 2-1 hockey game to extend his point streak to a career-high five games.
The 23-year-old wasn't done there, though. In the second period, he was aggressive on the forecheck and took a puck off the chin. He used that to force a turnover and then deked through defenders before lifting a backhander past Justus Annunen to give Washington its first two-goal lead of the night. Trent Miner took over in net after that for Colorado.
McMichael's 11 goals at 5-on-5 lead the NHL, and he leads the Capitals with 12 total goals this season. He's been a force to be reckoned with, and he's on pace for 97 points this season.
Dubois Getting Into A Rhythm
Not only did McMichael impress, but Pierre-Luc Dubois also had himself quite the hockey game and finished with two assists to add to his recent hot streak.
In the first period, on the power play, Dubois helped the team make a strong entry before feeding Jakub Vrana for a PPG to even the score.
Then, in the second, he battled hard along the boards to force a turnover, then carried the puck up ice before feeding Jakob Chychrun to make it a 4-2 game.
Dubois now has assists in three straight games and four of his last five overall. He's doing all the right things, giving a good effort and getting to the right areas, and it's paying off in the form of helpers and a good plus-minus — though he'll certainly want the goals to come eventually.
His eight primary assists this season rank second on the team behind Dylan Strome.
Lindgren, Capitals Impress To Shut Down MacKinnon & Avalanche; Duhaime Hurt
After a third-period collapse led to an overtime loss back on Wednesday, Washington was eager to bounce back with a shutdown performance against the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen, and they did that.
Though the Avalanche's fourth line struck twice — and against the Capitals' fourth line on a rare minus-2 night for that trio — the Capitals did a good job of shutting down the Avalanche's top trio and stars, including Val Nichushkin, who returned after a six-month suspension.
Charlie Lindgren also impressed in a bounce-back performance in net, stopping 17 of 19 shots to end an individual two-game losing skid, including a beautiful glove stop in the final minutes of regulation to secure the victory.
The Capitals also stayed disciplined with just one penalty, and the PK did its job, going 1-for-1. It ranks as the fourth-best in the league, operating at 85.7 percent.
It was exactly the response Carbery wanted to see as D.C. stayed aggressive at both ends, got pucks deep, simplified its game and blocked a handful of shots to boot.
Washington became just the second team this season to hold MacKinnon off the scoresheet, joining the No. 1 Winnipeg Jets, and was the first team to not allow him a single shot in a game this year.
The only negative: Brandon Duhaime left the game with injury after blocking a 92.2 mile-per-hour shot from Makar with his leg.
Power Play Finding Life
The Capitals' power play has struggled to open the season, but has recently turned a corner, and that continued on Friday.
Vrana's power-play goal gives D.C. three power-play goals on their last five attempts for a 60 percent success rate over the last three games.
Top Shelf Takes
- Alex Ovechkin picked up a helper for his 10th assist and 20th point of the season. He joins Gordie Howe at the second player in NHL history to record 20 points through the first 16 games of the season at 39 years or older. He's on pace for 103 points.
Trevor van Riemsdyk's eight assists rank second among Capitals defensemen this season, and he's also on pace for a new career-high in scoring.
- Lars Eller skated and looked strong in his debut, drawing a penalty and logging as he helped the third line find its stability. It marked the first time all season that all three skaters on that trio had more than 10 minutes of ice time.
- Martin Fehervary with the hit of the season, rocking Casey Mittelstadt so hard that it not only sent him to the ground, but broke his stick, too.
- Rasmus Sandin sealed the deal with an empty-net goal in the final seconds of regulation to extend his point streak to a career-high four games. He has three goals in his last four outings overall.
- Tom Wilson has four points in his last four games.
-Dylan Strome picked up an assist on Sandin's goal and has a point in all of two games this season.
- John Carlson also picked up an assist and paased Ryan Suter and Reed Larson (685) for the eighth-most points by an American-born defenseman in NHL history.
