WASHINGTON — It’s like Year 1 of Patrick Roy behind the bench — only better.

The Avalanche, a 6-3 winner over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Monday, is 5-0, the club’s best start since Roy, the Hall of Fame goalie, got the Avs out to a 6-0 start as a rookie head coach in 2013-14.

Roy’s first team won the Central Division with 112 points, second-most in the Western Conference, before losing a first-round playoff series to Minnesota.

That was an out-of-nowhere season, following a 29th-place finish the year before. Goalie Semyon Varlamov was a bacon saver, and Colorado wasn’t as good as its club-record 6-0 start or point total.

This current squad is much more balanced, with an explosive attack that was on display in its first road game of the season Monday. The Avs erupted for four goals in the first 10 minutes and withstood a physical assault and a frantic comeback by the 2018 Stanley Cup champions to begin a five-game road trip (and a six-game road stretch over 12 days) on a winning note.

“Great start. That was our best period of the year,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of the opening 20 minutes. “Second period, we didn’t manage the puck. We knew they were going to come out with a push. That’s a really good hockey team, a proud hockey team. They came out pushing. They ramped up their physicality, and we didn’t manage the puck very well.”

He added: “We have a proud group, too, so we wanted to correct it and go have a good third period, and we did.”

Leading 5-2 late in the third period, Alex Ovechkin scored to get the Caps within two goals. A goal off the ensuing faceoff was disallowed after Bednar challenged the play for offside. He was correct, improving to 3-0 on challenges this season. Then Nathan MacKinnon scored an empty-net goal in the final minute.

The Avs took a 4-0 lead before some fans had settled in their seats. The goals came from defensemen Erik Johnson (3:42) and Nikita Zadorov and forwards Nazem Kadri (7:54) and Mikko Rantanen (9:25), with only the last of those coming in a man-advantage situation.

Colorado, which scored on its first three shots and chased Washington goalie Braden Holtby after the fourth goal, had all three lines buzzing. Kadri had two assists in the period and a team-high three shots.

“The first period was as good as we’ve ever played, I think,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “You’re doing everything you can to keep that up, to stay in that mind-set to stay on the game. But you know they’re a proud organization, and they’re not going to roll over and stop playing. We knew they were going to come, and we started to turn pucks over, which we didn’t do at all in the first period.”

Washington outshot the Avs 16-7 in the second period and got goals from Lars Eller and T.J. Oshie to cut the deficit in half.

But Colorado winger Matt Nieto scored 4:23 into the third period to get the visitors back up by three, and the Avs held on.

Goalie Philipp Grubauer, a backup with Washington when it won the Cup, made his first start as a visitor at Capital One Arena and made 29 saves.

“Feels awesome,” Grubauer said of beating his former teammates. “Obviously, lots of memories here, (but hard) to beat that team. It’s awesome to win here, for sure.”

The Avs were scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh after the game and face the Penguins on Wednesday in the first of 12 games on NBC or NBC Sports Network this season.





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