WASHINGTON — The silver lining in the Avalanche's third consecutive loss Saturday is only temporarily soothing, because young goalie Calvin Pickard is destined to be reassigned to the minors as early as Sunday.
Nevertheless, Pickard again showed flashes of being among the best up-and-coming goalies in the game.
In place of the pulled Reto Berra, Pickard was excellent in giving the Avs a chance to climb back from a four-goal deficit. It wasn't enough — the Capitals won 7-3 Saturday at the Verizon Center — but Pickard wasn't the problem.
He allowed Colorado to get within 4-2 in the second period before Washington struck twice, first on the power play and then with what resembled a hidden-ball trick to turn it back into a four-goal game.