WASHINGTON (AP) — From banner to blowout Mathieu Perreault Jersey , the Washington Capitals‘ Stanley Cup defense is off to a rousing start.After watching the franchise’s first Cup banner ascend to the rafters, the Alex Ovechkin-led Capitals scored two goals in the first two minutes on the way to a 7-0 thrashing of the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night. T.J. Oshie opened the scoring 24 seconds in and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the first of his two goals at 1:47 to give Washington the fastest first two goals by a defending champion in a season opener in NHL history.“We scored right away,” Ovechkin said. “After that, they were kind of in shock.”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. That’s the chant Oshie started after the victory parade in June, and it was echoing throughout the arena four months later.“I said it because I believe it,” Oshie said. “We got a lot of guys in here that not too long ago were raising the Stanley Cup above our head. Not a lot’s changed.”Braden Holtby stopped all 25 shots he faced to improve to 15-2 with four shutouts against the Bruins.The emotional banner ceremony featured montages from the Capitals’ playoff run and ensuing celebrations and a roar when Ovechkin carried the freshly engraved Cup onto the ice and skated a lap with it. Minutes after Ovechkin kissed the Cup and put it back in its box, he and his teammates blew away any concern about an emotional letdown and began making a statement that they want to win it back.“We showed we’re not going to give a team easy ways to beat us,” Ovechkin said.In Todd Reirden’s first game as coach, the Capitals beat the Bruins for the 13th consecutive time, this time without Tom Wilson. Washington’s top-line right winger began his 20-game suspension for another illegal check to the head of an opponent in a preseason game.Without Wilson, the Capitals’ offense didn’t miss a beat as Ovechkin scored one of four power-play goals, Kuznetsov scored his second on the power play and John Carlson beat Boston backup Jaroslav Halak on a 5-on-3 advantage. Newcomer Nic Dowd joined the fun with a spinning back-hander, and Cup-clinching goal-scorer Lars Eller added the exclamation point with the seventh of the night.The Bruins were not pleased by Eller’s celebration, and winger Brad Marchand instigated a fight with him soon after.“His celebration was unnecessary,” Marchand said. “He took an angle in front of our bench and celebrated in a 7-0 game. So I just let him know.”Rask fell to 1-11-5 in his career against the Capitals with a 3.30 goals-against average and .889 save percentage that are each the second-worst of any opponent.“I’m out there to give us a chance,” Rask said. “It didn’t happen today. Three soft goals, you’ve got to look in the mirror and go fix it.”Only two goals came against Halak, whose presence on banner night in Washington was poetic after his performance for Montreal in the 2010 playoffs ended one of the Capitals’ previous best chances to win a championship.NOTES: The Capitals have outscored the Bruins 48-19 during this winning streak. … Reirden expects Wilson to appeal his suspension through the NHL Players’ Association. … Neither Reirden nor Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy would say who’s starting in goal for his team Thursday. … The Capitals set a team record for goals in an opener. … Washington C Nicklas Backstrom became the third player in franchise history to reach 800 points.UP NEXTBruins: Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night in No. 1 pick Rasmus Dahlin ‘s debut.Capitals: Open the rival Penguins’ season Thursday night in Pittsburgh. It took one trip to Las Vegas early in the season for the San Jose Sharks to realize that the fast start to the season for the expansion Golden Knights was no fluke.So it should come as little surprise to the Sharks that they have to get past Vegas in the second round of the playoffs starting Thursday night to reach the Western Conference final for the fourth time in the past nine seasons.”I remember playing them in November and walking in and going, `This isn’t a mirage. These guys are for real,”’ Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. ”Their game was real, the way they came at you Michael Hutchinson Jersey , the tenacity they played with, the depth they have. That opinion for me hasn’t changed in any of the games we played them, and it went back as far as November when we played them early. Great test for us.”The Golden Knights brought relentless speed to a Pacific Division that had been known in recent years for heavy teams that thrived on wearing down opponents with physical play.The group of castoffs raced past the rest of the division for 109 points in the regular season and then swept a Los Angeles Kings team that always seemed to be a step behind in the first round of the playoffs.”We played them a couple of times early and you figured out this team is for real and will be tough for years to come,” Sharks defenseman Justin Braun said. ”They have great speed and the coach has them going hard. We’re going to have to match that every shift.”The Sharks have embraced the league’s transition to a faster game in recent years, making it a priority following a loss in the Stanley Cup Final to Pittsburgh two years ago.The transformation really took hold this season after top-line center Joe Thornton went out with a knee injury in January and the Sharks acquired Evander Kane and Eric Fehr the following month, adding both speed and depth to the forward group that should test the unproven Golden Knights.”I would assume it’ll be a bit more fast-paced a bit, maybe a little more open hockey,” Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”I think LA was a team that played well defensively, but they don’t create as much offensively. With these guys we’re going to have to do a little more up and down.”Here are some other things to watch in this series:GOALIE SHOWDOWNThe series features a matchup of two of the NHL’s hottest goalies. Fleury allowed just three goals in a first-round sweep, leading the league with a .977 save percentage and 0.65 goals against average. San Jose’s Martin Jones was nearly as stingy, allowing four goals against Anaheim for a .970 save percentage and 1.0 GAA. Jones’ career .931 save percentage is third best ever among goalies with at least 20 playoff games.SPECIAL TEAMSOne of the few things Vegas didn’t do well in the first round was capitalize on power plays, scoring on just 1 of 12 chances after converting on 21.4 percent in the regular season. The Sharks were among the best penalty killers all season, ranking second at 84.8 percent. San Jose’s power play has been a bit of a roller coaster this season, struggling early and late but thriving for a stretch in the middle of the year. The Sharks were 6 for 20 in the opening round.”It does become more important as the playoffs go on that you win the special teams battle,” DeBoer said. ”Both teams take a lot of pride in those areas so it should be a good test.”BIG BURNSThe Sharks rely heavily on defenseman Brent Burns‘ big shot to generate offense. He had nine shots and a goal in Game 1 of the last round before the Ducks seemed to put extra emphasis on shutting him down. Vegas figures to do the same.”When he’s on the ice, you got to pay special attention to him,” coach Gerard Gallant said. ”The wingers can’t fall asleep up high and let him go down the backdoor and give him a lot of shots to the net. That’s what they do, they focus on getting pucks to the net.”LONG BREAKBoth teams figure to be well-rested for this series after sweeping the first round. San Jose will have seven full days since beating Anaheim, while Vegas has had eight days off since finishing off Los Angeles. This marks just the second time in the past 22 years that teams will meet in the playoffs after sweeping the previous round.JUMBO JOEThe Sharks will once again start the series without star center Thornton, who has been out since Jan. 23 with a knee injury. DeBoer ruled Thornton out for at least Game 1 and there is no timeline for when he will be ready to return.—AP freelancer W.G. Ramirez in Las Vegas contributed to this report.—