Capitals snap Avalanche’s nine-game winning streak in 3-2 defeat

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The Great 8 helped halt the Avalanche’s winning streak at nine games.

Future Hockey Hall of Fame forward Alex Ovechkin, who will surely someday have his No. 8 jersey hang from the rafters in Washington, scored his 778th career goal and the Capitals never trailed in defeating the Avalanche 3-2 on Monday night at Ball Arena.

The loss snapped Colorado’s nine-game winning streak, the club’s second-longest this season.

Ovechkin, who trails only Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801) in all-time NHL goal-scoring, broke a 1-1 tie with his league-best 286th career power-play goal in the second period. After Colorado tied it 2-2 early in the third, Washington winger Marcus Johansson struck for the winner just 2:33 later.

“I thought we played hard. We competed hard. It was intense,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I didn’t like our execution. Give them credit, they put pressure on us … We didn’t have the puck enough.”

It was the first loss of a four-game homestand for Colorado (55-14-6), which remains at 116 points — two shy of the club record set by the Stanley Cup-winning team of 2000-01.

Washington (42-23-10), which is safely in the Eastern Conference wild-card window, climbed within a point of the Penguins for third in the Metropolitan Division.

“It was a good test for us, going into the third period down a goal and seeing the fight that we had to come up with,” Avs defensemen Cale Makar said.

Newly acquired Avs winger Artturi Lehkonen tied it 2-2 at 8:13 of the third period. Lehkonen received a behind-the-net pass from linemate Nico Sturm, who also was acquired ahead of last month’s trade deadline, and stuffed the puck into the net while it was against the left pad of goalie Ilya Samsonov. The Capitals challenged the play for goalie interference but the goal stood up, sending the Avs on the power play.

Washington killed off the delay-of-game minor and retook the lead 33 seconds later when Conor Sheary forced a turnover and fed Johansson for a one-time slap shot behind Avs goalie Darcy Kuemper.

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