Overview
- Colorado beat Washington 3-2 in overtime Sunday to become the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff spot, then held a five-point Central Division lead with a game in hand after Dallas lost.
- Captain Gabriel Landeskog returned from a short injury absence caused by a 96‑mph Cale Makar shot and tied the game early in the third period.
- Martin Necas set up Brock Nelson’s overtime winner and now has 24 points in 13 games since the Olympic break, boosting Colorado’s secondary scoring.
- Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play to reach 1,000 combined regular-season and playoff goals, becoming the second player to hit that mark after Wayne Gretzky.
- With a berth secured, Jared Bednar is rotating goalies Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood and monitoring the returns of Artturi Lehkonen, Ross Colton and Logan O’Connor to settle late-season lines.