The Colorado Avalanche have accomplished a lot of firsts this season.
First team in the League to reach 70 points. First team to win 30 regular season games. First team to have multiple ten game winning streaks. First team to lose just one game in regulation on home ice.
With a win against the Washington Capitals this afternoon, the Avalanche will ensure that last statistic doesn’t change.
Colorado Avalanche (33-5-8)
The Opponent: Washington Capitals (24-19-6)
Time: 2:00 P.M. MST/4:00 P.M. EST
Watch: TNT/HBO Max, TruTV (US National Broadcast), MNMT (Washington Capitals Broadcast Area Only) SN+, NHL Centre Ice (Canadian Broadcast Areas)
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
It took over one hundred days (one hundred and one, to be exact) for the Avalanche to suffer their first regulation loss on home ice since the start of the 2025-2026 season. The Nashville Predators, who made their final trip of the regular season to Ball Arena last Friday, secured a 7-3 victory off a four point night from former Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly (which included his seventh career hat trick) and a three point night from captain Roman Josi. Goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 40 of 43 shots for Nashville’s third straight win, which has pushed them into contention for the last wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Head Coach Jared Bednar didn’t mince words after his team’s performance, citing “no positives” could be gained from his team’s effort against Nashville. He didn’t stop there, saying he “hated that game from start to finish”.
Pretty accurate: the Avalanche surrendered the first goal of the game right out of the gate with just thirty seconds played to O’Reilly (a bit of payback of sorts for Brent Burns scoring just fifteen seconds on Saros in the Avs’ 3-0 victory at Bridgestone Arena back on November 22), which was the beginning of a very long night for the returning Mackenzie Blackwood. Blackwood, who had missed the past six games due to injury since recording a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on New Year’s Eve, stopped 23 of 28 shots in his first action of 2026. While some of those goals that got past him could be explained away as incredibly unfortunate (Sam Girard deflecting a puck past him), or near unpreventable (O’Reilly’s point-blank redirect of Luke Evangelista’s shot through heavy traffic), there were certainly others that Blackwood surrendered (Michael Bunting’s breakaway late in the second period) that would have been nice to see him come through with a save.
While many of the Avalanche skaters certainly deserve their fair share of criticism for their performance on Friday night, Brock Nelson may be one of the few who could be spared. Nelson matched O’Reilly goal for goal in the first period and gave his teammates opportunities to build on his efforts. Unfortunately, a completely uninspired second period allowed Nashville to take control of the game. Martin Nečas’ early third period goal that pulled the Avs within one provided a blip of hope, but Nashville rolled off three goals within a 2:28 span late (including a pair of empty net goals) to put the game out of reach.
While the loss to Nashville certainly stings, and they have played the Avalanche very tough this season, it’s important to keep in mind that this was the
first regulation loss on Ball Arena ice this season, and it was due to happen at some point. Had they put together a more complete game and still came out on the losing end, the loss may not taste quite so bitter.
The loss also didn’t impact the Avs’ position as the undisputed leader across the Central Division, Western Conference, and entire League standings. Factor in that Dallas has only won
twice this calendar year (and lost ten of its last twelve games) and Minnesota has won just
three times in January, a lopsided loss for the Avs to Nashville—the single regulation loss on home ice this entire season—seems comically light by comparison.
Nathan MacKinnon remains the League leader in goal scoring (36), and will have a chance to reclaim the League lead in overall points from Edmonton’s Connor McDavid; MacKinnon is one point behind McDavid’s 83 points for the mark. Cale Makar still leads all defensemen in points (53), but Columbus’ Zach Werenski is one point shy of tying him for that mark. Scott Wedgewood still leads the League for the lowest goals against average (2.19), and while it seems plausible for Bednar to turn to him after being idle since the Avs’ overtime loss against Toronto, he may start Blackwood to keep him working to return to form and save Wedgewood for Wednesday’s game against Anaheim.
Today’s game against Washington will be the fifth game of the seven game home stand for the Avs. Prior to splitting the season series last year, Colorado enjoyed a four game winning streak against Washington dating back to November 19, 2022.
Projected Lineup
Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gavin Brindley – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Victor Olofsson – Jack Drury – Ross Colton
Zakhar Bardakov – Parker Kelly – Ivan Ivan*
Defense:
Cale Makar – Sam Girard
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov – Sam Malinski
Between the Pipes:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
*Ivan Ivan, who was recalled from Loveland ahead of the Nashville game, was sent back down after the loss. It’s possible he could be recalled again since he played in Saturday’s Colorado Eagles game but sat out on Sunday.
Washington Capitals
Washington can also relate to the struggles of Dallas and Minnesota, having only three wins to their credit to begin the month of January. They have lost six of their previous nine games since the start of the calendar year, the most recent being a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Saturday at Capital One Arena. As Brock Nelson was the primary source of offense for Colorado against Nashville, defenseman Jakob Chychrun filled that role for Washington against Florida, scoring the team’s only goals in the contest. After giving his team a 2-1 lead near the halfway mark of regulation, Florida scored four unanswered goals against goaltender Logan Thompson and never looked back.
Washington currently sits in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, and trail the Buffalo Sabres (yes, the Buffalo Sabres) by three points for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. With today’s game marking the start of a five game road trip through the Western Conference, which includes some winnable contests against Vancouver, Calgary, and Seattle, Washington can gain some ground (or build some momentum, at least) in the wild card race before wrapping up their road swing in Detroit prior to returning to the District.
If you were asked who was leading Washington in goals, you’d probably say it was Alex Ovechkin. Incredibly, Tom Wilson leads all Capitals skaters in goals (22), just eleven shy of his career best he posted last season (33). He also leads the team in points (42), and was recently named to Team Canada’s roster for the upcoming Olympics in Italy. Wilson, however, has not played for Washington since a 3-2 shootout loss to Chicago on January 3 due to injury. As for the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer, Ovechkin is second in goals (20) and points (41). Defenseman John Carlson is third on the team in points (38), and leads all Washington skaters in assists (29). Chychrun is second among Washington skaters in points (35), but leads all defensemen in goals (17).
Despite losing his last three starts, Thompson ranks sixth in goals against average among goaltenders (2.38), just behind Colorado’s Blackwood (2.26). He will likely get his fourth straight start in today’s contest against the Avalanche.
Washington skated away with a 5-2 victory over Colorado in their only visit to Ball Arena last season on November 15, 2024. They wrap up the season series against Colorado at home on March 22.
Projected Lineup
Forwards:
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Ryan Leonard
Ivan Miroshnichenko – Nic Dowd – Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime – Hendrix Lapierre – Brett Leason
Defense:
Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Martin Fehérváry – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Reimsdyk
Between the Pipes:
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
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