Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists as the visiting Colorado Avalanche scored four goals on their first five shots in the first period and defeated the Washington Capitals 6-3 on Monday.
Colorado remains perfect so far this season after winning all five games.
The Avalanche scored their four goals in a span of 5 minutes, 43 seconds to knock out Washington starting goalie Braden Holtby and take an early 4-0 lead. The Avalanche scored on their first three shots and wound up going 4-for-5.
Erik Johnson got the first goal at 3:42 with former Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky posting one of the assists -- with Kadri adding the other. Then Nikita Zadorov scored at the six-minute mark for a 2-0 lead.
After that, Kadri scored on a rush up the left wing. He ripped a shot past Holtby and the Avalanche had gone 3-for-3. Ilya Samsonov replaced Holtby, who finished the game without a save.
That goal came at 7:54, and Colorado stretched the lead to 4-0 when Mikko Rantanen (one goal, two assists) scored on the power play. His goal came at 9:25 and gave the Avalanche a four-goal lead.
Rantanen also got an assist on the Zadorov goal and added a second helper later.
Washington began to climb back in the second period, scoring twice. Lars Eller took advantage of an Avalanche turnover in their zone and beat former Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer (29 saves) on a high shot at 6:56.
The Capitals then cut the lead to 4-2 when T.J. Oshie scored on a backhander with 4:32 remaining in the period. Washington had a few more scoring chances after that but Grubauer finished with 14 saves against his former mates in the second period.
Matt Nieto then stopped the Capitals' comeback with his goal early in the third period, giving the Avalanche a 5-2 lead.
Alex Ovechkin added a late third-period goal, and John Carlson scored 15 seconds later, but the play was ruled offsides. Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado then clinched it with an empty-net goal during the last minute.
--Field Level Media
