CAPITALS STRIKE EARLY AND OFTEN ON BANNER-RAISING NIGHT
After watching the franchise’s first Stanley Cup banner take its place in the rafters of Capital One Arena, Washington jumped to a 2-0 lead in the opening 1:47 of the first period - the fastest two goals by a defending Cup champion in their season-opening game in NHL history - en route to a 7-0 victory over the Bruins.



* The Capitals set an NHL record for the largest shutout victory by a defending Stanley Cup champion in its season-opening contest. In fact, only two other teams in NHL history, regardless of stature, have won by at least seven goals in a season-opening shutout: MTL on Oct. 8, 1975 against LAK (9-0 W) and DET on Oct. 28, 1945 against BOS (7-0 W).

* The seven-goal outing also placed Washington in select company among other defending champions.

* T.J. Oshie (1-1—2) began the Capitals’ offensive outburst just 24 seconds into the contest, followed 1:23 later by Evgeny Kuznetsov (2-0—2), who led the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 12-20—32 in 24 GP. Washington’s two goals in the opening 1:47 of the game set the NHL record for fastest two goals by a defending Cup champion in their season opener, besting the previous mark established by the original Ottawa Senators (two goals in 3:30) against the Hamilton Tigers on Dec. 14, 1923.

* Fresh off his seventh Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy in 2017-18, Alex Ovechkin (1-1—2) scored his 10th goal and 17th point in a season-opening game to move into a tie for the lead among active players in each category.

* Additionally, Nicklas Backstrom (0-3—3) collected three assists to overtake Mike Green (12) and Joe Thornton (12) for the most by an active player in season-opening games. In doing so, he also eclipsed the 800-point milestone, becoming the 10th Swedish-born player in NHL history to reach the mark and the first skater from the 2006 NHL Draft Class to hit the milestone.



MATTHEWS, TAVARES LIFT MAPLE LEAFS
Auston Matthews (2-0—2) scored 1:01 into overtime and John Tavares, who signed as a free agent with the club on July 1, tallied in his Maple Leafs debut to lift Toronto to victory.

* Matthews has now scored at least one goal in all three season-opening games of his career (also 4-0—4 in 2016-17; 1-2—3 in 2017-18). Only three players in NHL history have scored in four consecutive season-opening games to begin their career: Sergei Fedorov (1990-91 to 1993-94), Dave Andreychuk (1982-83 to 1985-86) and Dit Clapper (1927-28 to 1930-31).

* In franchise history, Matthews is just the fifth Maple Leafs player to score at least seven goals in season opening games. The others: Babe Dye (9 goals in 5 GP), Darryl Sittler (8 goals in 12 GP), Mats Sundin (7 goals in 13 GP) and Charlie Conacher (7 goals in 8 GP).



* Tavares, who famously announced signing with his home-province Maple Leafs by tweeting out a childhood photo of him wrapped in team logo bedding, became the first Ontario-born player to score in his Maple Leafs debut since Eric Lindros on Oct. 5, 2005 vs. OTT.

* Tavares (2009) and Matthews (2016) became the first set of No. 1 picks in the NHL Draft to score in the same game for the Maple Leafs since Mats Sundin (1989) and Eric Lindros (1991) did so on Nov. 17, 2005 at BOS.

TEENAGERS MAKE THEIR MARK OUT WEST
After 22 teenagers made season-opening rosters across the NHL, a pair of nineteen-year-old rookies scored in their NHL debut to lead their respective team to victory.

* In Vancouver, Elias Pettersson, who enters the NHL after an MVP season in the Swedish Hockey League, recorded 1-1—2 to help the Canucksextend the League’s longest active win streak in season openers to five contests (5-0-0 since 2014-15). Tampa Bay has the opportunity to match the streak with a win on Saturday.

* Pettersson is the Canucks to collect multiple points in his NHL debut and second Vancouver skater in three seasons to score in his first career NHL game (also: Brock Boeser on March 25, 2017).

* Ducks forward Max Comtois, who was selected in the second round (50th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft, scored 49 seconds into the first period, marking the sixth-fastest goal in NHL history by a player making his League debut.

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SNEAK PEAK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION

MORE 2018 NHL DRAFT PICKS EXPECTED TO DEBUT ACROSS 10-GAME SLATE

Four of the top five picks from the 2018 NHL Draft are expected to make their League debuts across Thursday’s 10-game slate, in which they would join Jesperi Kotkaniemi (MTL; No 3) as the only players from the draft class to play in a 2018-19 season-opening game. Kotkaniemi (18 years, 89 days) collected an assist in his NHL debut on Wednesday to become the second-youngest player in Canadiens history to record his first career point, behind only Mario Tremblay (18 years, 75 days) on Nov. 16, 1974 (2-0—2 vs. NYR).

* Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin (No.1) is set to become the fourth-youngest defenseman in the past 20 years to make his NHL debut (18 years, 174 days on Oct. 4). The franchise record for points by a rookie defenseman was set in 1982-83 by Phil Housley (19-47—66 in 77 GP), the team’s current head coach.

* Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov (No. 2) will become the third-youngest player to debut with the franchise (18 years, 192 days on Oct. 4) behind Jeff Skinner (18 years, 144 days) and Paul Lawless (18 years, 172 days). The franchise record for goals (40) and points (72) by a rookie was set by the club’s first-ever No. 2 pick, Sylvain Turgeon, in 1983-84 when the team was in Hartford.

* Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk (No. 4), who celebrated his 19th birthday on Sept. 16, can make his NHL debut less than two years after his brother,Matthew, did so with the Flames (Oct. 12, 2016 at EDM). Their father, Keith, started the family tradition on Feb. 28, 1992 with the original Jets, notching an assist against the Canucks. Keith had 28-23—51 during his first full season as a rookie in 1992-93, while Matthew posted 13-35—48 in his rookie campaign of 2016-17.

* Arizona’s Barrett Hayton (No. 5) could become the youngest player in Coyotes/Jets franchise history to make his League debut (18 years, 118 days on Oct. 4). Hayton would aim to follow in the footsteps of teammate Clayton Keller, who led the club with 23-42—65 as a rookie last season (82 GP). Since the end of the 1980s, only three clubs have had back-to-back seasons with a rookie hitting 60 points: the Red Wings from 1990-92 (SergeiFedorov and Niklas Lidstrom), the Flyers from 1992-94 (EricLindros and Mikael Renberg) and the Penguins from 2005-07 (SidneyCrosby and Evgeni Malkin). Note: The 1992-93 Jets (2) and 2016-17 Maple Leafs (3) each had multiple rookies hit the mark in the same season.

DID YOU KNOW?

Only once in the past 31 years have each of the top five picks played in a season-opening game immediately following their draft: 2008-09 (Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Zach Bogosian, Alex Pietrangelo and Luke Schenn).

the information above was supplied by the NHL PR department