Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all are settling in for the week ahead after a lovely weekend.

It was another fine weekend for Vancouver, who turned in a smooth performance to see off CF Montreal 2-0 at home and pick up a well-earned derby win. Time will only tell, however, as to whether the victory was a pyrrhic one.

That’s because the Caps’ injuries woes appear to have gotten much, much worse, with Ryan Gauld exiting with a left knee injury after only 20 minutes. It appears to have been a freak injury, with the skipper landing awkwardly while trying to head the ball. The fact that he will be getting an evaluation today, along with his limping off the field, will not fill fans with much optimism.

It is easy to go to the worst case scenario and, if Gauld is out for a prolonged period of time, well, that’s going to be a problem. I didn’t get my medical degree and thus won’t speculate but it is safe to say we’re all holding our breath and sending wishes to the captain for a speedy recovery.

What is impressive, however, is that Jesper Sorensen and the players on the pitch were able to steer the Caps to a comfortable win without Gauld. That’s thanks to a stellar performance from the backline: comfortable 1v1 defending and goals from Mathias Laborda and Tate Johnson, who appears to be in dreamland right now after two excellent debut matches for the Caps.

Three goals from the leftback position this year show how important the fullbacks are in Sorensen’s vision and Johnson looks totally comfortable out there, reading the game well and making runs and cutting out passes like a player with many more years of top flight experience. It is early but Vancouver appear to have hit it out of the park again in the SuperDraft.

Laborda, meanwhile, looks totally transformed under Sorensen, who has taken him from being an adequate defender to a monster in a more possession-based side. Laborda looked great defensively, positioning himself perfectly to cut out Montreal chances on the counter and his goal was well taken.

This team’s season is largely riding on Gauld’s left knee. But I have complete faith in Soresen at this point and the team is developing a number of secondary chance creators, giving fans plenty of hope as we wait for word from the doctors. In the meantime, enjoy the first time the Caps have bagged three straight wins to start a season in franchise history.

Shameless Self Promotion

We have the analysis of the Caps’ 2-0 win over Montreal Saturday. Meanwhile, with the Whitecaps 2 side getting their MLS NEXT Pro season underway, we preview what to expect with the reserves.

Best of the Rest

Some star Whitecaps players provide a cautionary tale as to why Europe doesn’t always mean greener pastures.

After his debut goal on Saturday, here’s why it might be Tate Johnson time.

Speaking of the Whitecaps 2, they opened the season coming back from 3-0 down to nab a shootout victory against LAFC 2.

The Canadian men will head to Montreal for a pair of friendlies later this year.

LA Galaxy continue their downward spiral, dropping yet another match to start the season on Sunday.