The Avalanche too often this season have played just well enough to lose a close game, as they did Thursday night in a 3-2 loss to Washington at the Pepsi Center with new Hockey Hall of Fame member Peter Forsberg in attendance.

They also lost leading goal scorer Alex Tanguay to what could very well be a broken jaw when he was hit in the face with a puck that was shot by Capitals star Alex Ovechkin at 7:29 of the second period.

"I haven't seen him yet," coach Patrick Roy said immediately after the game. "He got a puck on the jaw. We'll know more (Friday)."

Already without injured forwards Jamie McGinn (back) and Jesse Winchester (concussion), the Avalanche are down to 11 healthy forwards. Assuming the worst regarding Tanguay, they'll have to summon someone from Lake Erie in the AHL before Saturday's home game against Carolina.

Roy had to move forwards around after Tanguay was injured. Rookie Dennis Everberg, who began play on the third line as a replacement for McGinn, took over for Tanguay on a unit with Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly. Max Talbot moved from the fourth line to replace Everberg on the third line with Nathan MacKinnon and Daniel Briere.

The Avalanche used third-period comebacks to win the previous two games and forged a 2-2 tie at 6:44 of the third Thursday when Gabriel Landeskog fed Tyson Barrie for his first goal in 13 games and second of the season.

But they couldn't break the tie and Ovechkin, who didn't have a point in his three previous games, scored a spectacular goal with 5:56 left in regulation to pin the loss on goalie Reto Berra, who started because Semyon Varlamov has a groin injury.

Ovechkin sped into the Avalanche end during a 4-on-4 situation and maneuvered by defenseman Jan Hejda. He moved in on Berra and fired the puck wide but took the carom off the endboards and scored as he was skating by the net.

"It was a lucky bounce," said Ovechkin, who had all four of his shots on goal in the third period.

Berra, who had 20 saves, was flat-footed as Ovechkin skated by and flicked the puck behind him.

"It was a good play, but I can play better," Berra said. "I went down a little early and I was late on the second (shot). It's tough. We played really good in the third period. We deserved to go to the OT. It was a good play by him and not a really good play by me."

Hejda blamed himself for giving Ovechkin too much room after he skated across the blue line.

"Obviously it wasn't a great play by me," Hejda said. "I think the biggest problem I had was that he had good speed through the neutral zone and my mistake was I didn't have a good gap on him. I gave him too much room. He faked a shot and then he went around me. He missed the net, but he kept going and he was able to play the rebound from the back board. It's a game about mistakes and I made one and we paid the price."

The Avalanche, now 6-9-5 for the season and 3-4-2 on home ice, have a 4-4-5 record in one-goal games. They played catch-up again Thursday, falling behind 1-0 and 2-1.

"It was a 1-on-1 situation and he made a great play and he made a second effort and got his own rebound," Roy said of Ovechkin. "That was a nice goal by him."

The Avalanche have been limited to two goals or fewer in 12 of the first 20 games.

"We were outstanding defensively, we gave them only 23 shots," Roy said. "We were certainly pleased with the performance we had in our own end. Too bad we could not score towards the end. We had our chances, plenty of looks. I thought we had a great third period as well. It's a tough situation losing a game where you think you played a good game but sometimes those things happen.

"We need to stick to it because I think there's a lot of positives in the way we've been playing, especially defensively. You give Washington 23 shots on net you're going to win some games. Offensively we're going to have to simplify our game. I think we're looking too much for the perfect play. We have to just put pucks at net. We did that on both goals."

The Capitals took a 2-1 lead in the second period on goals by Nicklas Backstrom and Jason Chimera, who broke a 1-1 tie at 12:10 with his first goal in 14 games. Chimera beat Berra with an unscreened shot from the left circle, one that has to be stopped.

"I'm not really happy with that game," Berra said. "I think I could stop each of these goals."

Briere scored the Avalanche's first goal at 2:53 of the second period when he converted the rebound of MacKinnon's shot by goalie Braden Holtby, who had 27 saves.

Washington had the only power play of the game, which came at 16:42 of the first period when Nick Holden was penalized for slashing. It was the first time this season the Avalanche didn't have a power play.

*****

Forsberg attended the game with his fiancee and two young children and received a standing ovation from the crowd of 16,476 when he and the family were shown on the jumbo boards while seated in a private suite.

Forsberg, 41, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday in Toronto and he had a brief press conference before the game.

"My kids and grandkids are going to go there and say, 'Peter was a pretty good player,' " he said. "It's an awesome feeling, and seeing my name and picture up there with the others was unbelievable."

Forsberg is the sixth Avalanche player to go into the Hall of Fame. He joined Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, Jari Kurri and Rob Blake, who also was inducted Monday. Forsberg joined fellow Swedish players Borje Salming (1996) and Mats Sundin (2012) in the Hall.

"Back home they realize how hard it is to get in because there have only been a couple to go in," Forsberg said. "It's been a big thing in the papers back home, and overall Swedish people start to know what it is now and how hard it is and what you have to achieve to get in there."

Forsberg, who retired in 2011 after playing 14 seasons in the NHL, was part of two Stanley Cup championship teams with the Avalanche. He had 249 goals and 636 assists in 708 regular-season games. He had 64 goals and 107 assists in 151 playoff games, won the Calder Trophy with Quebec in 1994-95 and the Hart Trophy with Colorado in 2002-03.

Forsberg also is a member of hockey's "Triple Gold Club" — NHL championship, world championship and Olympic gold medal.

"There was no other goal in this organization than to win the Cup," said Forsberg, whose career was hampered by foot and ankle problems. "I didn't think about the Hall of Fame or anything, it was just winning games."



Follow @RickS7

Join the Discussion: » 22 Comments » Post New Comment

» One-year deal for Johansson

» One more postseason disappointment

» Bednar cleared to coach tonight; MacKinnon Hart finalist

» Cale Makar a Norris Trophy finalist

» Jost: Do or die Game 5 tonight; Kadri suspension upheld