WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals got beaten badly the first time they played the Colorado Avalanche this season.

They enjoyed Tuesday night's result a whole lot more.

Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists, Braden Holtby stopped 22 shots one night after being pulled in the second period of a loss and the Capitals defeated the Avalanche 5-2.

The Capitals (19-12-1) got revenge for their 6-2 loss at Colorado on Nov. 16, arguably Washington's low point of the season. They are 9-3-0 since.

"We didn't have maybe our best game last night and these guys handed us our lunch last time," Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said. "I think (we) wanted to have a good response.

"We had good puck possession, some real good looks, and I think over time they wore down."

Jakub Vrana, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Brett Connolly and Devante Smith-Pelly scored for Washington, and Madison Bowey had two assists.

Colin Wilson and Tyson Jost scored for the Avalanche (14-14-2), and Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves against his former team.

"Tonight, we just didn't have the get-up-and-go that we needed," Avs head coach Jared Bednar said, "and I would say the commitment to sort of fight through a tough game for us just wasn't where it needed to be."

Colorado, coming off a win in Pittsburgh on Monday night, finished its road trip 2-2.

"It's a pretty good road trip coming out 2-2," Bednar said. "I'd like to have another point or two out of it, but it's satisfactory, let's put it that way."

Holtby would normally get one of back-to-back games off, but was pulled 1:34 into the second period during Monday's 3-1 loss at the New York Islanders. He allowed all three goals, and coach Barry Trotz opted to put him right back in the saddle against Colorado.

"We definitely put in a better effort. More committed, more energy," Holtby said. "I thought we just kind of were dead last game, myself included, and I think we all did what we needed to do throughout the day to get ourselves ready. Some areas of the game where we really excelled at and got some big goals at big times."

Washington hasn't lost back-to-back games in almost a month. They also have not yielded a power-play goal in eight games (18 for 18) after the Avalanche went 0 for 4.

The Capitals took an early 1-0 lead. Kuznetsov entered the Avalanche zone on a 3-on-2 rush. He held the puck until the defensemen committed, then fed to Vrana on his left and Vrana fired over Varlamov's shoulder for his ninth goal at 5:25.

Colorado tied it early in the second when Matt Nieto won a puck battle behind Holtby and fed out in front to Wilson, who controlled the puck and lifted a backhander into the top of the net at 4:13.

Wilson could have made it 2-1 on breakaway with less than seven minutes left in the period, but Holtby made the save.

"Big save on the breakaway," Connolly said. "Seems like he's always there to bail us out when we need him. ... Great bounce back game for him too."

Instead, Washington pulled ahead when Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie pushed the puck out toward the blue line on a broken play in front of Varlamov. Carlson, skating in, blasted a one-timer past Varlamov with 2:18 left in the period.

Connolly increased the lead to 3-1 at 5:15 of the third. With an extra attacker on the ice during a delayed penalty, Bowey sent a pass across ice and Connolly one-timed it home for what proved to be the game winner and his fourth goal in six games.

"He made a great play," Connolly said of Bowey. "I was calling for it a little bit over there. He made a great play, froze the goalie and I just kind of had to get it in the upper half of the net and I was fortunate enough to put it where I wanted."

Niskanen pushed the lead to 4-1 at 16:19 off a nice feed from Kuznetsov.

"Our execution wasn't all there," Colorado's Mark Barberio said. "I thought they brought the game to us more than we did to them."

NOTES: Washington is 13-0-1 when it leads after the first period. ... Capitals F T.J. Oshie (upper body injury) missed his fourth game. Coach Barry Trotz said Oshie will not travel to Boston for Thursday's game, but will resume practicing when the team returns home. ... Colorado RW Nail Yakupov was a healthy scratch for the third straight game. ... With his second-period goal, Avs C Colin Wilson is two short of 100 for his career. ... Washington's Andre Burakovsky picked up an assist for his 100th NHL point.