Capitals score 4 in first, beat Avalanche 7-3

Alex Ovechkin got his 10th goal of the season, one of four in the first period, and the Capitals went on to a 7-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

Washington’s four-goal period was its first since January, and began when Justin Williams scored just over three minutes in and moments after the Capitals’ power play expired.

Orlov’s goal was the highlight of an impressive night for Washington’s defensemen, as four of them scored a goal for the first time since December 1992.

The Colorado Avalanche came into tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals looking to get things back on track after a three game winning streak to start their season-long seven-game road trip was followed immediately by losing two in a row. Schmidt made it 4-0 during a 4-on-4, reaching a loose puck in the left face-off circle and beating Berra high over his blocker.

The goal was the 485th of Ovechkin’s career, coming a game after his 484th set a new all-time National Hockey League record for Russian-born players.

“I had no clue”, Coach Barry Trotz said. “We had the killer instinct in the third, but that could have been taken care of a little earlier”. Colorado’s third line got the first goal and a power-play unit produced the second.

Following Evgeny Kuznetsov’s skilled redirect to give the Caps a 5-2 lead, Pickard and everyone else thought the goalie had the shot from Dmitry Orlov in his pads. Orlov’s goal was his sixth point of the season. The Caps are now in second place in the Metropolitan Division.

As Orlov brings the puck into the offensive zone, he puts the puck fancily through his legs and takes a shot at goaltender Calvin Pickard. March 2nd of 2014 against the Philadelphia Flyers.

How did the Avalanche lose sight of Orlov and the puck on that one? It eventually settled at his feet, and he was able to control the puck while the Avalanche defenders had quit on the play.

“I get it and I look around and like everybody can’t see so I’m like okay I get a chance”, Orlov added. “… I was scared if referee will make a whistle, you know”. I can see like empty net so I wait, wait, wait and start moving to middle. It’s kind of a amusing situation and hard to explain.

Colorado got a few window dressing a bit later, as Zach Redmond’s shot from the point was deflected through traffic past a screened Holtby.

Left winger Cody McLeod, center Nathan MacKinnon and left winger Andreas Martinson scored for Colorado (7-12-1), which has lost three straight.