nhl roundup | Wednesday’s games

Capitals 7, Bruins 0

WASHINGTON

Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals opened their title defense with a thrashing of the Boston Bruins. 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. 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.

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 the Montreal Canadiens in the opener for both teams. Matthews took a feed from Patrick Marleau and beat goalie Carey Price 1:01 into the extra period. Frederik Andersen stopped 34 shots, Nazem Kadri had two assists for the Maple Leafs.

Associated Press