On The Road: Game Day In Washington, D.C.

The Colorado Avalanche is on a four-game road trip on the east coast with games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.
ColoradoAvalanche.com is writing and taking photos of the trip.
With the Avalanche playing the second game of a back-to-back set to close out its road trip, the team elects to not go to the arena for a morning skate. Instead, the club stays at its Georgetown hotel and has an optional stretch for the players.

Most of the Avs participate in the stretch, which includes a variety of activities such as foam rolling and using recovery compression pants.
Colorado then holds a team meeting just after noon, where the coaches discuss tonight's opponent, the Washington Capitals, and go over the good and bad things the Avalanche did the previous night at the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After the meeting, a pre-game meal is served in the same room before the players disperse back to their respective hotel rooms for a short nap.
Capital One Arena is located in Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown neighborhood, a good 20 minutes through the city from the club's Georgetown hotel. To make sure there is enough time to get to the rink, and in case there is traffic, Colorado's first team bus leaves at 3:45 p.m. The second bus departs 45 minutes later.

Colorado once again uses a non-traditional lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen--the fourth straight game it has used such an alignment--but does make one change: Gabriel Bourque returns to game action after being a healthy scratch for the past four games. Bourque replaces Alexander Kerfoot, who is day-to-day after hurting his foot in Monday's contest.
The Avalanche goes through its typical pre-game routine, which includes the two-touch soccer game. Unlike at Pepsi Center or in other arenas across the league, there isn't much space to play in the hallway outside the visiting locker room at Capital One Arena.

Colorado once again uses a non-traditional lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen--the fourth straight game it has used such an alignment--but does make one change: Gabriel Bourque returns to game action after being a healthy scratch for the past four games. Bourque replaces Alexander Kerfoot, who is day-to-day after hurting his foot in Monday's contest.
Washington got on the scoreboard first as Jakub Vrana scored on a perfect shot that went over the shoulder of goaltender Semyon Varlamov 5:25 into the game. Colorado was able to knot the contest at 1-1 early in the second period after Colin Wilson made a nice move and recorded his third goal of the season.

The Capitals retook the advantage right before the second intermission, as John Carlson tallied the first of three consecutive markers for the home team.

Tyson Jost scored for Colorado with 1:03 left to play before Devante Smith-Pelly added an empty-net goal for the Capitals. The Avalanche dropped the final game of its road swing by a 5-2 score, finishing the trip with a 2-2 record.
The team's charter flight was set to depart from Dulles International Airport, which is 30 minutes away from the arena in northern Virginia. The Avalanche has its quickest postgame pack up of the trip, as the team doesn't waste any time getting ready with the long haul to the airport ensuing. The team's buses leave Capital One Arena at 10:10 p.m. ET and its flight is up in the air 77 minutes later.

Flying into a head wind, it takes the Avs' charter plane a little longer to get home, but it still makes decent time at just three hours and 16 minutes. The team lands in Denver at 12:43 a.m. MT, and the players, coaches and staff disperse to their cars so they can head home to see their families and get some rest.

Wednesday is an off day for the club, and everyone will reconvene at Pepsi Center on Thursday for the next game versus the Florida Panthers.