LEAFS WIN SEASON OPENER
LEAFS NEED OVERTIME TO DEFEAT CANADIENS 3-2
John Tavares scores goal in his anticipated debut with Maple Leafs —
John Tavares let out a big sigh of relief during Wednesday’s player introductions. The Toronto Maple Leafs did the same thing after an ugly win. Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the night at 1:01 of overtime as the Leafs squeezed out a 3-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL’s regular-season opener.
Matthews took a feed from Patrick Marleau off the rush and beat Carey Price upstairs past the blocker to send the crowd at Scotiabank Arena into a frenzy.
“It was a perfect pass,” Matthews said. “Patty had me there and I was able to just get it over him.”
But for much of the game, it was Montreal that had the upper hand as Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen was forced to make 34 saves, including 15 in the third period, to bail out his teammates on a number of sloppy sequences.
“They kind of outworked us,” Matthews said. “A lot we can learn moving forward.”
Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was happy with the victory, but not how his team got there.
“Montreal played with great effort and great structure,” he said. “In the end, we won the game, but we have to work way harder and play way better than we did tonight.”
Tavares, with his first for Toronto, had the home side’s other goal. The product of nearby Oakville, Ont., signed a massive US$77-million, seven-year contract with the Leafs on July 1, joining the team he grew up cheering for and instantly turned into a Stanley Cup contender.
He received a raucous ovation when his name was announced as the final player to come out of the tunnel before puck drop, and seemed relieved to finally be in a game that mattered after so much hype.
“It was tremendous,” Tavares said of the crowd reaction. “To have that type of welcoming from this fanbase and this city is pretty special.”
“I’m sure it’s a big sigh of relief for him to just kind of get the monkey off the back and just go play now,” Matthews said. “I can’t imagine what he’s gone through the last three, four months and all the hype leading into his first game here.”
Nazem Kadri added two assists for the Leafs, who enter the season with skyhigh expectations as fans dream of an end to Toronto’s 51-year Cup drought.
The Canadiens, meanwhile, are loathe to use the word “rebuild” despite the trade of captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights, but showed well in their first game of 2018-19.
“Definitely encouraging, the effort that every single player made,” said Price, who made 23 saves. “If we keep playing like that with that type of effort I think we’re going to get rewarded.”
Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw scored for Montreal, while Max Domi — the son of former Leafs tough guy Tie Domi — had two assists in his debut with the Canadiens.
Capitals 7, Bruins 0
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals opened their title defence 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 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! 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.
Ovechkin scored one of four powerplay goals, Kuznetsov scored his second on the power play and John Carlson beat Boston backup Jaroslav Halak on a 5-on3 advantage. Newcomer Nic Dowd joined the fun with a spinning backhander, and Cup-clinching goal-scorer Lars Eller added the exclamation point with the seventh of the night.