Capitals raise Stanley Cup banner then thrash Bruins in opener
Defending champs open title defense with 7-0 win over Boston
WASHINGTON — A Stanley Cup championship banner rose to the rafters at the home of the Washington Capitals for the first time, and everyone in attendance Wednesday night got to relive the sheer excitement of it all.
Alex Ovechkin and the other players, who craned their necks to see the video montages of last season on the overhead scoreboard — and couldn’t help but smile. Coaches, too, including new head man Todd Reirden. Not to mention the owner and the GM and the assistant equipment manager and anyone else on staff.
And, importantly, the 18,506 fans, decked out in their jerseys — most of them in the team’s main color, red, so many with Ovechkin’s No. 8. They sang along to “We Are the Champions!” in full throat and shook their team-distributed glow sticks during a half-hour ceremony before Washington opened the regular season by beating the Boston Bruins 7-0 behind a pair of goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov and one apiece from Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Nic Dowd, John Carlson and Lars Eller.
“Gave me chills. I was just looking up and I was hearing the crowd sing that song,” center Nicklas Backstrom said, then added with a laugh: “I want to experience that again.”
Those fans roared at any mention of “champions.” Or any clip of Ovechkin. Or, especially, when there were glimpses of “The Save” by Braden Holtby in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, and Eller’s Cup-winning goal in Game 5, and Ovechkin kissing the trophy for the first time back on June 7.
Each burst of cheers sounded as if the games from months ago were being played all over again.
“When you’re part of something like that,” said Oshie, who scored 24 seconds into the game, “how can you not be excited to get going and try to do it again?”
The banner signifying
the NHL championship was revealed toward the end of the festivities, slowly lifted to the ceiling, its rise paused long enough for the players to gather on the ice in front of it for photos, the Stanley Cup itself resting nearby on the ice. MAPLE LEAFS 3, CANADIENS 2 (OT): In 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.
Tavares, who signed a $77 million, seven-year deal July 1 with the team he cheered for growing up in nearby Oakville after nine seasons with the New York Islanders, moved past Matthew Peca and roofed a shot over Price with 1:53 left in the second period.
Montreal rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the first NHL player born in the 2000s, picked up an assist. The Finn, who turned 18 in July, also became the second-youngest player in Canadiens’ history to score a point.
CANUCKS 5, FLAMES 2: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Nikolay Goldobin, Brendan Leipsic, Tyler Motte and Jake Virtanen scored a goal in the third period to help Vancouver pull away to beat Calgary in the opener for both teams.