Sakic records 1,500 point, but Avs fall to Capitals

Middle period costly as Colorado gives an opening to Capitals

Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 26, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Colorado Avalanche

More stories »

Box score

One abysmal period was all it took for the Avalanche to lose to a team it probably should be able to defeat, especially at home.

On a Wednesday night when the Avalanche controlled Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin about as well as could be expected, it still wasn't enough.

Ovechkin, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound left wing, scored a power-play goal in the second period when the Capitals took the lead for good and hung on for a 5-3 win before 17,047 at the Pepsi Center.

"If we didn't lay an egg in the second period, we would have won the hockey game," said Andrew Brunette, who scored two goals and added an assist. "We didn't compete that whole second period. When I look back at some of our home games, it's like we lay an egg for a period or for half a period, and it's unacceptable."

The loss came in a game in which Avalanche captain Joe Sakic became the 11th NHL player in history to register 1,500 career points.

"Any time you get a milestone, you definitely want a winning night," said Sakic, who reached it with an assist on Brunette's first-period goal. Sakic added to the total when he scored at 1:42 of the third period to pull the Avalanche to 3-2.

But Washington's Dainius Zubrus scored what proved to be the decisive goal 1:42 later. Donald Bra-shear outfought Avalanche defenseman Ossi Vaananen for the puck in the right corner and fed Zubrus, who skated uncontested to the net and slipped the puck behind goalie Peter Budaj.

Budaj, playing his second game in a row for the first time this season, forced Ovechkin to shoot wide on a penalty shot and Brunette scored with 2:38 remaining during a six-on- four power play.

But Matt Bradley stole the puck from Sakic with Budaj off the ice again and found the empty net with 35.1 seconds left for the clinching goal.

Washington got a big game from goalie Olaf Kolzig, who finished with 45 saves, and the Capitals killed six of the Avalanche's seven power plays, including a two-man advantage in the first period that lasted the full 2 minutes.

"You have to score in that situation," coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's a huge boost the other way. It's almost like it's a goal for them. That was definitely a major turning point."

Even so, the Avalanche was mostly upset with its effort - or lack of it - in the second period when the Capitals got goals from Mike Green and Ovechkin, and enjoyed an 11-2 advantage in shots for the first 13 minutes.

"We were just flat in that second period," Sakic said. "We didn't capitalize on the five-on-three, but things were still going well. That second period was probably our worst of the season. Hopefully, we'll learn that we can't have periods like that."

Budaj got off to an inauspicious start, allowing a goal to Chris Clark on the game's first shot, 53 seconds after the opening faceoff.

"It was a bad goal," Budaj said. "I didn't have an angle."

Brunette tied the score with his power-play goal, but the Capitals scored twice in a span of 1:38 in the second period. Green skated by defensemen Patrice Brisebois and Vaananen at 8:52, and Ovechkin's shot from the left circle on a power play went under leaping teammate Kris Beech at 10:30 after Antti Laaksonen's clearing attempt was intercepted.

"Our defense has been OK," Quenneville said. "I thought we weren't as good as we were in the first nine games. As a group, I thought it was one of our nights where we weren't as effective as we've been."

To say the Avalanche was impressed with Ovechkin would be an understatement.

"I saw him last year against us (Team Canada) in the Olympics," Sakic said. "I've seen enough of that kid. He was dominant. He's definitely the most exciting player in our game. He's explosive. You've really got to pay attention to him. When he's got that puck at full speed, he makes a lot of things happen."

Ovechkin had difficulty getting off the ice with 2.7 seconds left in the game after he was hit on the ankle with a puck, but Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said his star would be OK.

"He does so many things well," Hanlon said. "He's a real physical presence. He's just a great person for our franchise."

Right wing George Parros made his Avalanche debut, replacing Mark Rycroft on the fourth line with Laaksonen and Brad Richardson. The Avalanche claimed Parros, a 6-5, 232-pounder, on waivers from Los Angeles on Oct. 3. He had been nursing a bruised shoulder.

Washington......1	2	2	-	5
Colorado......1	0	2	-	3

First period - 1, Was, Clark 3 (Clymer), :53. 2, Col, Brunette 4 (Svatos, Sakic), 11:33. Penalties - Zubrus, Was (hooking), 1:56; Laaksonen, Col, (hooking), 5:13; Morrisonn, Was (delay of game), 9:01; Klepis, Was (hooking), 12:24; Beech, Was (tripping), 16:30; Pothier, Was (holding), 16:30.

Second period - 3, Was, Green 2 (Pettinger, Beech), 8:52. 4, Was, Ovechkin 5 (Semin, Pothier), 10:30 (pp). Penalties - Arnason, Col, (hooking), 9:40; Svatos, Col, (closing hand on puck), 10:46.

Third period - 5, Col, Sakic 5 (Svatos, Brunette), 1:42. 6, Was, Zubrus 4 (Brashear, Pettinger), 3:24. 7, Col, Brunette 5 (Svatos, Stastny), 17:22 (pp). 8, Was, Bradley 2, 19:24 (en). Penalties - Zednik, Was (high- sticking), 3:57; Beech, Was (tripping), 16:20.

Shots - Was 7-13-10 - 30. Col 18-8-22 - 48. Missed penalty shot - Ovechkin, Was, 11:58 third. Power plays - Was 1 of 3; Col 1 of 7. Goalies - Was, Kolzig 3-2-1 (48 shots-45 saves). Col, Budaj 2-1-1 (29-25). A - 17,047 (18,007). T - 2:28. Referees - Steve Kozari, Rob Shick. Linesmen - Shane Heyer, Jonny Murray.