McMichael scores twice in Capitals' victory over Avalanche

DENVER (AP) — Connor McMichael had two goals and the Washington Capitals scored four times on their first 10 shots in a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

Jakub Vrana, Jakob Chychrun and Rasmus Sandin also scored and Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves to spoil the return of three key forwards for Colorado.

Valeri Nichushkin was added to the active roster after a six-month suspension under the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program and had one shot in 19:27 of ice time.

Colorado also got back wingers Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood from upper-body injuries. Drouin had not played since opening night, and Wood was on the injured list since Oct. 28.

Parker Kelly gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game but Vrana and McMichael scored on the next two shots to put Washington ahead.

Nikolai Kovalenko cut it to 3-2 early in the second, but Chychrun answered midway through the second.

Takeaways

Capitals: Alex Ovechkin did not score and remains 31 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894.

Avalanche: Trent Miner, called up earlier Friday with Alexandar Georgiev out with an upper-body injury, had 12 saves in his NHL debut. Miner came in for ineffective Justus Annunen 1:53 into the second period. Annunen allowed three goals on six shots.

Key moment

McMichael stole Sam Girard’s attempted clear at the Colorado blue line and beat Annunen with a backhander to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead early in the third.

Key stat

Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon was held without a point for the first time at home this season. MacKinnon, who leads the NHL with 33 points, has at least one point in 16 of 18 games overall.

Up next

The Capitals visit Vegas on Sunday night, while the Avalanche begin a four-game trip in Philadelphia on Monday night.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL