Avalanche pursue 3-0 start on road against Capitals
WASHINGTON -- Rookie coach Jared Bednar brings a high-scoring Colorado Avalanche team in search of its third straight win to Washington on Tuesday night to face the Capitals.
Bednar, named the head coach on Aug. 25 after Patrick Roy's unexpected resignation, watched the Avalanche (2-0) began their four-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime win at Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Gabriel Landeskog's power-play goal tied it with 6:32 left in regulation and he won it when he batted home a deflected Nathan MacKinnon shot 22 seconds into overtime.
Jerome Iginla and Patrick Wiercioch added their first goals of the season for Colorado. Free agent signee Joe Colborne was scoreless after netting his first career hat trick in the season opener, a 6-5 win over Dallas.
MacKinnon and Erik Johnson had two assists each against the Penguins, and backup goalie Calvin Pickard made 28 saves.
"I think we had some guys who were horses for us tonight and carried the rest of the guys on our team," Bednar told NHL.com regarding Landeskog and MacKinnon
Through two games, Colorado has converted 4 of 9 power-play chances.
"The game's so fast and so good now, getting that time to skate on four-on-threes, five-on-threes is awesome," MacKinnon said.
Semyon Varlamov, who surrendered five goals on opening night, will start Tuesday night against his former team. He's 2-2 with a 1.78 goals-against average against Washington.
The Capitals swept two games from the Avalanche last season, winning 7-3 at home on a night when seven different players scored, and then 4-2 in Colorado.
"They've got a lot of really good pieces and they look like they're having fun and playing really hard right now," Trotz said of Colorado. "They're a dangerous team. ... They scare you because they have some of those dynamic people that can, if you're not paying attention to detail, they can light you up."
The normally high-powered Capitals (1-0-1) have struggled to find the net early on, yet still managed to pick up three points in their first two games.
Second-line winger Andre Burakovsky scored twice in an opening night shootout loss at Pittsburgh and fourth-line winger Daniel Winnik provided both goals in Saturday's 2-1 win over the New York Islanders.
In the meantime, Washington's top line -- Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie -- have yet to produce a point while combining for 14 shots on goal.
"I think it's just a matter of all three of us playing well and things will start falling for us," Oshie said Monday. "We're not in an early panic mode or anything like that."
Trotz, speaking after Monday's practice, was confident the trio will soon produce.
"They're all leaders. They're all tremendously talented. They'll figure it out," he said.
"They're on the dance floor, they've just got to dance to the same song, that's all."
Capitalizing with the man advantage would be a start. One of the league's top power play units a year ago, the Capitals are scoreless in eight attempts thus far. The Avalanche come in having allowed four goals on nine power plays against them.
"I'm not worried about our power play. It's in good hands with our coaches. They have those guys prepared," Trotz said. "It's just a matter of them bearing down and executing at higher level and finding the back of the net at the end of the day. And they will."
Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby started the first two games, but Trotz indicated Monday that he might give backup Philipp Grubauer the nod against Colorado. Grubauer has never faced the Avalanche.