The Washington Capitals got the pageantry of winning the Stanley Cup — the banner-raising Nashville Predators Hoodies Authentic , one last celebration with their fans — out of their system Wednesday when they opened the 2018-19 season, although a 7-0 win over the visiting Boston Bruins might have seemed like another chapter to the same party.“That’s a huge day for us,” Evgeny Kuznetzov, who had two goals, told NBCSN. “Our fans waited a long time to have a night like that.”Now comes perhaps a dose of reality. The Capitals play on the road on the second of back-to-back nights against a longtime rival that didn’t have to play Wednesday and is champing at the bit to greet them.Article continues below ...“The games are already pretty tense, and this game is going to be no different. It’s going to be a fun one to play in,” Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said after his team practiced Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena, site of the showdown with the Capitals Thursday night. “Even though it’s just a regular-season game, I think the stakes are high.”Dumoulin seems probable to play after recovering from an upper-body injury late in the preseason.The Penguins and Capitals have been division rivals for decades. Pittsburgh had made a habit of beating Washington in the playoffs en route to winning the Cup. Washington flipped the script in the second round last spring and ousted the two-time defending Cup champions along the way to their first title.That left the Capitals thirsty for more.“As soon as you win the Cup, you don’t want to lose that feeling,” Washington captain Alex Ovechkin told the Washington Post. “You want to win more than one. As soon as you taste it, it’s kind of like a really good restaurant. You go there once, and you want to come back more than once because it’s great.”The Capitals will be without winger Tom Wilson, who was issued a 20-game suspension by the NHL Wednesday for a hit he delivered in a preseason game.Wilson was suspended three games during the playoff series with Pittsburgh last spring for delivering a hit that left Zach Aston-Reese with a broken jaw and a concussion.Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby was critical of Wilson before the length of the latest suspension was known.“He still chooses to make those hits,” Crosby said. “I’m sure the league’s well aware of that. It’s not the first time we’re talking about a hit that he made. … For whatever reason, he still decides to do that.“I just don’t know how many opportunities you need Nashville Predators Hats Authentic , you know? So, obviously, the point hasn’t been made yet.”Perhaps anticipating Wilson’s absence, the Capitals Tuesday claimed winger Dmitrij Jaskin off waivers from St. Louis, and he could make his Washington debut against the Penguins. Defenseman Michal Kempny is out because of a concussion.The Wilson suspension aside, both teams returned for the 2018-19 season largely intact, although Pittsburgh has touted the fact that its players got a longer offseason to rest and recover after two short summers following Cup wins.“I think everyone’s really, really excited,” Dumoulin said of the opening of the season. “You feel the energy throughout the team. I think everyone’s excited to start playing for something again and come together as a team — especially after last year, ending it on a sour note.”While Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray will be fresh, Washington coach Todd Reirden had not decided whether to go with his No. 1 goalie, Braden Holtby, a second night in a row against the Penguins after he picked up his 33rd career shutout Wednesday.“I definitely have spent some time on this one, probably as soon as the schedule came out,” Reirden said of the decision. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Washington Capitals can now turn their attention to the Pittsburgh Penguins and avenging some playoff disappointments.The Capitals won four straight games over the Columbus Blue Jackets after fumbling the first two in overtime at home Custom Nashville Predators Jerseys , capping their opening-round playoff series with a 6-3 victory Monday night in Game 6.Alex Ovechkin scored twice, including his 50th playoff goal, and Braden Holtby had 35 saves to lift the Capitals, who never trailed after winning in overtime in Game 5 on Saturday. After Ovechkin’s second-period goals, Washington never relinquished a two-goal lead. Four of the games in the series went to overtime.The Capitals will again move onto the conference semifinals after being eliminated by Pittsburgh in the second round in each of the past two seasons.”I think we accomplished what we believed we could at the beginning of the series,” said Holtby, who relieved a struggling Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 and was great the rest of the way. ”We’ll enjoy it a bit, rest up and prepare for the next one.”Washington coach Barry Trotz didn’t want to talk about Pittsburgh yet.”Please let me breathe,” he said. ”We haven’t taken a breath since this started.”Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Dimitry Orlov, Devante Smith-Pelly and Lars Eller also tallied Monday for Washington, which never trailed in the game after prevailing in extra time in Game 5 on Saturday. The Capitals won each of the three games in Columbus.”I do know on the road it seems like for whatever reason we’re focused, we’re driven,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said. ”It seems like we almost like it when an opposing team’s crowd gets into it. It almost gets us going, too, and makes you want to quiet them down.”The story for the Blue Jackets in the four-game stretch was their power-play futility. After going 4 for 8 with a man advantage in the first two games www.officialdevils.com , the Blue Jackets were 0 for 16 in the last four.”Beginning of the series, our power play was going,” said Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno, who scored twice Monday. ”We were scoring at will. For whatever reason, it dried out. We’ve got to figure that out.”Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 22 saves for the Blue Jackets, who lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall. They remain the only active NHL franchise never to win a playoff series.The Capitals struck first again Monday night.Shortly after Holtby held off a Columbus barrage, Orlov got his first goal of the series when he skated into the slot and rifled a slap shot over Bobrovsky’s glove side with 7:48 left in the first.Foligno got his first of the playoffs halfway through the second when he snapped a shot past Holtby from the right circle. That came soon after the Blue Jackets survived overlapping penalties, including 32 seconds of a 5-on-3.Ovechkin put back a rebound of a shot by Brooks Orpik to make it 2-1 with 7:10 left in the second, the 50th playoff goal of the Russian star’s career. He then gave the Caps a two-goal lead with a one-timer from the left circle on a power play.The Blue Jackets tightened it to 3-2 early in the third when Dubois connected. But Smith-Pelly increased the Capitals’ lead again 91 seconds later. Stevenson got a short-handed goal 1 1/2 minutes later to pad it.Foligno got the Blue Jackets to 5-3 at 8:22 in the third, but Columbus couldn’t get closer. Eller added an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left.”It was a war out there,” Trotz said. ”It was a really strong series by them, and it forced us to the limit for sure.”NOTES: Washington is the first team in NHL history to win a playoff series after losing each of the first two games at home in overtime. … Washington again kept the Blue Jackets’ best player Artemi Panarin off the score sheet after he had two goals and five assists in the first three playoff games… The Blue Jackets are 2-8 at home in four postseason appearances. … Ovechkin had five goals in the playoff series.—
