Capitals blitz Bruins 7-0 in season opener
Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals opened their title defense with a 7-0 thrashing of the visiting 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 1½ 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 NHL history — 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! Backto-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.
In Todd Reirden’s first game as head coach, the Capitals beat the Bruins for the 13th consecutive time, this time without forward Tom Wilson.
Wilson was banned 20 games by the NHL on Wednesday for a blindside hit to the head of an opponent during a preseason game, the latest and most severe punishment in what the league called an “unprecedented” series of suspensions for the physical player.
Wilson’s fourth ban in less than 13 months will cost him nearly a quarter of the 82-game regular season — only five NHL players have been suspended longer for on-ice play — and $1.26 million in salary.
The winger was ejected for the hit on St. Louis center Oskar Sundqvist in the second period of the teams’ exhibition game Sunday. Wilson had an in-person hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety in New York on Wednesday.
Wilson doubled his career high with 14 goals and set a mark with 35 points last season, when he was the only NHL forward with 30-plus points and 90-plus penalty minutes, finishing with 187 and a league-high 41 minors. Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 2: Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game in overtime, John Tavares scored his first goal for host Toronto and the Maple Leafs beat Montreal. Matthews took a feed from Patrick Marleau and beat goalie Carey Price 1:01 into the extra period. Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw scored for Montreal. Max Domi, the son of Tie Domi, had two assists in his first game for the Canadiens. Canucks 5, Flames 2: Rookie Elias Pettersson scored on his first shot in his first NHL game, and host Vancouver beat Calgary. Nikolay Goldobin, Brendan Leipsic, Jake Virtanen and Jason Motte also scored for the Canucks. Wild-Canadiens trade: Minnesota traded defenseman Gustav Olofsson to Montreal for minor-league forward Will Bitten. The deal was done after Olofsson cleared waivers. The second-round pick in the 2013 draft had eight assists in 41 games for the Wild last season.