Caps Crush Avalanche 6-1

Mark ButerbaughDec 16, 2009

Capitals Avalanche Hockey The Washington Capitals begun their three game Western Conference road trip with a convincing 6-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche. The Caps tallied 6 goals, none coming from the stick of Alexander Ovechkin, as the Caps show cased their deep offensive power.

It did not take the Caps long to start the road trip out right, just !;56 into the game, Tomas Fleischmann scored his first of two on the night, taking a pass from newbie Kyle Wilson to put the Capitals up 1-0. It was Wilson’s NHL debut, his first NHL point, and his birthday, all wrapped in one. Flash put the rebound off of Colorado goalie Craig Anderson into the net, on a shot deflection from Eric Fehr. The Caps stuck again a little over the 17 minute mark, this time Mike Kunuble. It was Knuble’s first goal since returning from a broken thumb on December 11th. Caps out shot the Avs in the first period 8-6.

Washington then poured it on in the second period, adding 3 more goals and taking a 5-0 lead in the second intermission. Dave Steckel added his 2nd goal of the season on a rebound off of a Matt Bradley shot. Half way through the second period, Flash scored his 2nd of the night, 13th of the season, and Wilson added his 2nd assist of the night and of his NHL career. Brads wasn’t done. Less than 23 minutes later, Bradley struck pat dirt on a deflection from John Erskine shot, grabbed the rebound and put it past Anderson, who clearly was not on his game. Caps led 5-0.

Avs frustration set in and David Koci nailed Caps D Mike Green on a boarding hit along the glass. Green went down, Erskine went on the prowl after Koci, but this is precisely where I think the Caps need to use some of that extra caps space created by the Nylander assignment, and add a true enforcer to the roster. Green was forced to leave the game. According to Tarik at the Washington Post, Green says he is OK. HC Bruce Boudreau was much more adamant. [Read more →]

Read it all, plus post-game notes at