Explosive start leads Avs to fifth straight victory

Four goals in 9:25.

That was all it took for the Avs to set the tone on Monday afternoon in their matchup with the Washington Capitals.

Erik Johnson, Nikita Zadorov, Nazem Kadri, and Mikko Rantanen scored within the first half of the first period, and from there, the Avs did just enough to hold on and come out of the Nations capital with a 6-3 victory.

Two second period goals by the Capitals made things somewhat interesting, but hard work by Tyson Jost led to Matt Nieto scoring into an empty net a little over four minutes into the third period, and from there, the Avs just had to play smart hockey to extend their winning streak to five.

The Avs now head to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins, who have scored 14 goals in their last two games. The game will be nationally televised on Wednesday on NBC Sports Network and starts at 5 PM MST.

Game Takeaways

• On the Monday morning podcast, we discussed the need for Nazem Kadri to get on the scoresheet at even strength. He wasted no time doing that today, setting up Erik Johnson for his goal and then adding his own a few minutes later. He now has four points overall in his last two games.
• Ian Cole, AKA Wolverine, returned to the lineup two months earlier than expected and played very well, finishing +3 on the evening and playing almost 16 minutes overall.
• How happy is Bednar to have Cole back?  He wasted no time throwing him out there late to protect the lead with Erik Johnson. He obviously trusts him.
• The Zadorov/Makar pairing has proven to be a bit of an adventure to start the season, in both good and bad ways. They were on the ice for four goals overall, and luckily three of them went into the opposing teams net, but the coaching staff benched them for the final 4:25 of the second period. They obviously want to see them tighten up a bit defensively.
• Nathan MacKinnon has managed to rack up eight points in the first five games of the season but has yet to look truly dominant. He did, however, have one shift in the second period where he showed just how good he can be, playing keep away from the Capitals and it leading to several shot attempts. Just wait until he truly takes off.
• Sam Girard has been the Avs best defenseman to start the year, and don’t think other teams haven’t noticed. The Capitals took a few runs at him tonight, and Alexander Ovechkin got him really good with a big hit behind the Avs net in the second period. Girard is a tough cookie though and just seems to play through it.
• The poke check is not Philipp Grubauer’s friend. We saw it last year, and he got beat twice tonight going for the poke check.
• A lot will be made of the Avs taking their foot off the gas with a 4-0 lead, but it’s only natural for a team to do that. It’s not often you get out to a four-goal lead that early in another team’s barn, and you could expect the other team to get a few back. The Nieto goal essentially ended the game.
• Andre Burakovsky looks like a different player than the one I watched in Washington. He looks confident and the patience he’s showing with the puck is nice to see. So far, so good with that trade.
• It’s never a good start when you finish with zero saves. Tough night for Holtby.