It’s a banner night for champion Caps as they celebrate last season’s victory
WA SHINGTON» Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals opened their title defense with a 70 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 NHL history — and it was just the beginning.
The Capitals chased goalie Tuukka Rask with five goals on 19 shots and ignited chants of “Backtoback! Backtoback!” from the firedup crowd. Braden Holtby stopped all 25 shots he faced to improve to 152 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 started rolling. Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 2,
OT. TORONTO» Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game in overtime, John Tavares scored his first goal for Toronto and the Maple Leafs beat Montreal in the opener for both teams.
Matthews took a feed from Patrick Marleau and beat goalie Carey Price 1:01 into the extra period.