Hoo boy we have a team here ladies and gents. The Caps got the upper hand on the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday, largely in part to the power play waking up from its early season slumber to provide the damage necessary to down Jared Bednar’s boys.

First was Ovi’s first of the season from his spot. Second was Timothy Leif Oshie from the slot. Both with a man advantage. Oshie then added another 5v5 off of a rebound from an Ovechkin shot that was sprung by a great play by Dmitry Orlov.

Caps beat Avalanche 3-0. The Caps are now 2-0-1 on the young season.

• Philipp Grubauer saw his first action on the young season and was stout making 18 saves on 18 shots. That is what we call a shutout, the first of his NHL career. Great stuff from the German netminder.
• Much was written and spoken about the cold start to the season on the power play. The guys heard your complaints. They went 2 for 5 tonight.
• Dmitry Orlov hip-checked a fool into a full on flip, staking his claim to “hit of the year” in the infantile stages of the season.
• Alex Ovechkin‘s 2016-2017 goal account was opened tonight. The goal came from his trademarked spot on the power play, beating Semyon Varlamov‘s pad and stick.
• Brett Connolly made his Capitals debut, replacing Zach Sanford on the third line, and he was nothing but solid, firing 2 shots on Varlamov, while also staying healthily above 60% possession wise.
• This is a fantastic shirt for a night where we honored Braden Holtby and his 2015-2016 Vezina Trophy winning campaign.

Holtby hair flip T shirt for the win #HoltBeast #RockTheRed #CapsAvs pic.twitter.com/9IVZTcZbuE

— Jester (@Hockeyjester) October 18, 2016

• Alex Ovechkin took 3 minor penalties. The Caps would be better off if he didn’t do that, because he’s really good at playing hockey.
• The “Tre Kronor” line was awesome yet again. They were the Caps best line possession wise and took the assignment against Nathan MacKinnon‘s line with ease.
• Just for your information, the Caps gave the Avs the work shot attempt wise even though they led for the majority of the game. That’s 3 straight to start the season where the Caps have heavily dominated your corsis and your fenwicks.
• Orlov had a strangely poor possession night, but I didn’t see any obvious lapses or drop in play from him. Probably just a blip.

Joe B suit of the night

The Caps dominated the Avalanche. It’s almost machine-like how good this team is and yes, I can tell how good we are 3 games in. All 4 lines work, the defense looks comfortable and our backup just got a shutout.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Avalanche

Photo by Rob Carr