Capitals 6, Maple Leafs 4: We’ll have a complete wrap-up of the Caps home opening goalfest against the Leafs tomorrow morning.

Chivas 2, United 0: It was a game United had to win. And things seemed to be lining up nicely: the Black-and-Red were coming off a 5-1 thrashing of Jabloteh in midweek, a season-high crowd of 24,175 was boisterous, and Chivas was hardly an offensive juggernaut — the Angelinos had only scored 7 goals in 13 road games this season, and hadn’t scored three goals in a game all year — the type of team which, if pounced on, would have difficulty responding. Head coach Tom Soehn also made the bold move to leave Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio, and Fred — three of the teams more popular and expensive, albeit out-of-form players — out of the starting eleven.

But it wasn’t too long before they found their way onto the field, amidst refrains of “Fire Soehn.” United laid a stinker, plain and simple, and effectively ended their chances of making the MLS postseason with a miserable performance last night.

Chivas dominated the midfield as United’s touch was missing in action. After a flurry of ventures into the offensive end, Maicon Santos bounced one of the post and D.C. keeper Milos Kocic’s face into the net. The visitor’s second was a complete mess of defending by Marc Burch, as the ball — lofted into the box by Jonathan Bornstein — was played off Burch’s head and onto the foot of Jesus Padilla, at which point it was elementary.

The self-combustion was complete after Ben Olsen, after being elbowed from behind, kicked a ball in frustration, hitting Chivas defender Yamith Cuesta. Olsen was sent off, leaving United futilely chasing the game: a perfectly fitting way to describe a team who — with two chances in two weeks to control their own playoff destiny — have just not cut it.

Nationals 6, Braves 4: It’s too bad it doesn’t mean anything, because otherwise the youth uprising in the Nationals’ clubhouse would be front-page news. D.C. local boy Justin Maxwell, fresh off his grand slam in the season finale at Nats Park, hit the go-ahead homer in extra innings to push the Nationals within one win of ending their season with two consecutive sweeps. Ross Detweiler tossed five shutout innings, his second straight solid start. Ian Desmond also homered again for D.C. And hey, if this doesn’t enthrall you, maybe the fact that the Nationals are, by far, D.C.’s choice franchise for political fundraising will.

And, as usual, here’s your roundup of the area’s major college football scores:

#6 Virginia Tech 34, Duke 26
Maryland 24, Clemson 21
Virginia 16, North Carolina 3