Stanley Cup defense opens with a rout
Capitals score twice in first 90 seconds; NHL suspends Tom Wilson for 20 games
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals opened their title defense with a 7-0 thrashing of the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
After watching the franchise’s first Stanley Cup banner ascend to the rafters, T.J. Oshie opened the scoring just 24 seconds in, and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the first of his two goals 1 1/2 minutes later to get the rout off to a fast start. It was the fastest first two goals by a defending champion in a season opener in NHLhistory — and it was just the beginning.
By midway through the second period, the Capitals chased goalie Tuukka Rask with five goals on 19 shots and ignited chants of “Back-to-back! Back-to-back!” from the fired-up crowd. Braden Holtby stopped all 25 shots he faced to improve to 15-2 with four shutouts against the Bruins.
The emotional banner ceremony featured montages from the Capitals’ playoff run and ensuing celebrations and a roar when Ovechkin carried the freshly engraved Cup onto the ice and skated a lap with it. Minutes after Ovechkin kissed the Cup and put it back in its box, he and his teammates blew away any concern about an emotional letdown and began making a statement that they want to win it back.
In ToddReirden’s first gameas coach, the Capitals beat the Bruins for the 13th consecutive time.
The Capitals have outscored the Bruins 48-19 during this winning streak.
Ovechkin scored one of four power-play goals, Kuznetsov scored his second on the power play and John Carlson beat Boston backup Jaroslav Halak on a 5-on-3 advantage. Newcomer Nic Dowd joined the fun with a spinning back-hander, and Cupclinching goal-scorer Lars Eller added the exclamation point with the seventh of the night.
Rask fell to 1-11-5 in his career against the Capitals right wing Tom Wilson is escorted by an official off the ice after he checked Blues center Oskar Sundqvist in the head on Sunday. Capitals with a 3.30 goals-against average and .889 save percentage that are each the second-worst of any opponent. Only two goals came against Halak, whose presence on banner night in Washington was poetic after his performance for Montreal in the 2010 playoffs ended one of the Capitals’ previous best chances to win a championship. Wilson suspended: Capitals forward Tom Wilson has been suspended 20 games by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for what it deemed an illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist in the teams’ preseason finale. Sundqvist suffered a concussion and a shoulder injury on the hit. Dating back to last preseason, this is Wilson’s fourth suspension, and his repeat-offender status made this punishment the harshest. Wilson won’t be available until the Capitals’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks Nov. 21.
The suspension matches the initial penalty given to Dennis Widemen after the Calgary Flames defenseman checked a lineman from behind in 2016. That suspension was later reduced to 10 games upon appeal. It is one game less than the suspension doled out to former Capitals player Dale Hunter after he injured the Islanders’ Pierre Turgeon with a blindside check after Turgeon scored a goal in the teams’ 1993 playoff series.