Hockey is a funny sport sometimes.

In a second period in which the Avalanche controlled play for most of the 20 minutes, they managed just 20 shot attempts and eight on goal. But in the third, Colorado had only two shots in the first 6:03, both off Washington Capitals turnovers, and both found the back of the net past goalie Logan Thompson.

Those tallies came after 40 minutes of scoreless Avs hockey. And when all was said and done, the Avalanche had defeated the Caps 3-2 in overtime despite trailing 1-0 when the third period began.

It was as opportunistic a game as we’ve seen from the Avs this season, far different from their usual relentless pressure that eventually breaks through.

Gabe Landeskog and Nic Roy had the regulation goals for Colorado, which improved to 46-13-10 on the season while building a five-point lead on the Dallas Stars for the top seed in the Central Division. The Stars play the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday evening.

In overtime, Martin Necas recorded his second assist of the day after setting up Brock Nelson for the game-winner at 1:22. The Capitals didn’t touch the puck for the entire period, and the Avs had three of their 24 total shots in that brief 3-on-3. Necas had himself a glorious shift before setting up the Nelson tally.

Justin Sourdif and Alex Ovechkin had the Capitals’ goals. Ovechkin tied the game late in regulation with a vintage Ovi power-play one-timer goal from the circle. It was his 1,000th career goal (regular season and playoffs combined), joining Wayne Gretzky as the only two players to reach the mark.

Sourdif’s tally came in the first period after Connor McMichael sent a Hail Mary pass over the Avalanche defenders to find Sourdif for a one-on-one play with Mackenzie Blackwood. The Washington forward beat Blackwood clean glove side at 11:53.

That was the only goal for either club until Colorado ended Thompson’s shutout bid 1:03 into the third period. Necas skated behind the Washington goal and intercepted a Thompson pass. He sent it to the front of the net to a wide-open Landeskog, who put it into the open net before Thompson could get back into position.

That was Landeskog’s 10th of the season, in his first game back after missing seven games with a lower-body injury.

The Avs didn’t get another shot for nearly five minutes. And when they did, they got their first lead of the game.

Gavin Brindley’s forecheck forced Washington’s Brandon Duhaime to attempt to clear the puck into the neutral zone. It was stopped at the line by Zakhar Bardakov. The puck then bounced to Roy in the slot, and he beat Thompson to record his third goal in nine games since joining the Avalanche.

More importantly, it put the Avs in the driver’s seat of a game that didn’t seem to have much life for most of the day.

Good: Opportunistic Goals

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Avalanche win a game like this. It’s one of those games where they didn’t have their best, weren’t generating chance after chance, and weren’t pressing the opposition quite as much. Yet when the Capitals turned it over twice in five minutes, the Avalanche capitalized on both and got back in the game.

Bad: Ovechkin Milestone (This Is Also Kind of Good)

Nobody ever wants to be on the wrong side of a huge milestone goal. But the Avs’ PK, on the Ovechkin PP tally, will forever be engrained in hockey history as the team that allowed Ovechkin’s 1,000th NHL goal.

Congrats to the legend for reaching the mark.