faster than expected and the result was a 50-win season in 2017-18 Patrice Bergeron Jersey , the 10th in franchise history.But their playoff run ended in the second round, leaving room for improvement that owner Jeremy Jacobs hopes comes with the continued maturity of Boston’s young players around its core of veterans.Jacobs was asked about his expectations during the Bruins’ media day Monday at Warrior Ice Arena.“My expectations never lessen so far as this team is concerned. … They’re young, we’ve got that on our side, and we’ve got a good warehouse of talent,” said Jacobs, who’s entering his 44th season of ownership of the Bruins.“I expect them to improve on last year. Because we didn’t start as strongly, I guess it was more the finish, we didn’t (the start) have last year.”The Bruins started 6-7-4 last season, but their 50-20-12 record earned them second place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.After defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round — the Bruins’ first playoff series win since 2014 — they fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the second round.The Bruins open their regular season Wednesday on the road against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, who will raise their championship banner during a pregame ceremony.As if the competition wasn’t enough of a challenge in Boston’s attempt to have a better start, they’ll have a greater challenge because defenseman Torey Krug will not be in the lineup.Krug had a left ankle injury in the Bruins’ preseason finale against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Krug is in a walking boot and will be evaluated in three weeks.Krug had 59 points (14 goals, 45 assists) in 76 games last season and was working his way back from a fractured ankle that ended his season after the fourth game against Tampa Bay in the playoffs.With Matt Grzelcyk, the replacement for an injured Krug both at 5-on-5 and on the power play, trying to return from a lower-body injury, the Bruins’ depth is being tested early.“Well given the fact that Torey is starting injured, I think that adding John Moore was a benefit to our group and deepening that,” said general manager Don Sweeney Matt Read Jersey Womens , who signed Moore as an unrestricted free agent from the New Jersey Devils on July 1.Rookie Urho Vaakanainen is also in line to pick up some of the slack depending on Grzelcyk’s status.The Bruins have at least gotten positive news on center Patrice Bergeron, whose return from offseason groin surgery was hampered by back spasms. He didn’t play in any preseason games, but practiced with the team for the second time on Monday and took contact in some drills. He anticipates being in the lineup on opening night.Like Jacobs, Bruins president Cam Neely desires a better start to the season. However, Neely’s more interested in how the Bruins finish.“I don’t want us to look at our point total and how many wins,” Neely said. “I want us to look at are we playing the way we want to play, are we playing the way the coach would like us to play, are we competing in a way that gives us chances to win every game and are we getting better as the season progresses as we get into the playoffs.” TORONTO (AP) — Nazem Kadri recorded the fifth hat trick of his career and added an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated Washington 6-3 on Wednesday night and dealt the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals their seventh straight loss.Auston Matthews, Nikita Zaitsev and Mitch Marner also scored for Toronto. William Nylander added three assists, while Morgan Rielly and Connor Brown had two each. Frederik Andersen stopped 41 shots for the win.The Leafs came in having lost two straight, four in a row and five of six at Scotiabank Arena, and seven of their last 10 overall.Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and an assist, and Alex Ovechkin and Matt Niskanen scored for Washington, which was playing for the third time in four nights.Braden Holtby, who had allowed 11 goals on his last 54 shots against coming into Wednesday, finished with 31 saves. T.J. Oshie added two assists for the Capitals, who have allowed 30 goals in their last five games.With his second-period goal Matt Hendricks Jersey Womens , Ovechkin tied Sergei Fedorov for the top spot among Russian-born players with 1,179 career points.CANADIENS 2, COYOTES 1MONTREAL (AP) — Mike Reilly scored in the third period, Carey Price made 30 saves and Montreal beat Arizona in Alex Galchenyuk’s return to his old city.Jonathan Drouin also scored for the Canadiens, who have won five of six.Price earned his 20th victory of the season. He has stopped 133 of the last 137 shots he’s faced during a four-game personal winning streak.Conor Garland scored for the Coyotes, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back set after a 3-2 victory in Ottawa on Tuesday night. Calvin Pickard, in his Coyotes debut, stopped 22 shots.Galchenyuk was the Canadiens’ first-round draft pick in 2012 and played six seasons with Montreal before being traded last summer.WILD 5, AVALANCHE 2DENVER (AP) — Eric Staal had two goals, including the tiebreaker on a second-period power play, Devan Dubnyk made 20 saves and Minnesota rolled into the All-Star break by beating slumping Colorado.Jared Spurgeon, Charlie Coyle and Ryan Suter also scored for the Wild, who earned their fourth win in five games.Carl Soderberg and Tyson Barrie scored for an Avalanche team that drops to 3-7 in January and keeps slipping in the Central Division chase. Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots as he got the start over Semyon Varlamov with Colorado searching for consistency in net.BLUES 5, DUCKS 1ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Zach Sanford and Tyler Bozak scored goals in their first games back from injured reserve, and St. Louis beat stumbling Anaheim.Vladimir Tarasenko, Oskar Sundqvist and Sammy Blais also scored for the Blues Womens Torey Krug Jersey , who had lost three of four before splitting two games on a Southern California road trip.Rookie Jordan Binnington bounced back from his first career regulation loss with 12 saves in his fifth career victory heading into the Blues’ nine-day break.Daniel Sprong scored the game’s opening goal, but the injury-plagued Ducks were then buried in their 14th loss in 16 games.All-Star John Gibson stopped 26 shots before former Blues goalie Chad Johnson replaced him with 9:25 to play.PREDATORS 2, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1LAS VEGAS (AP) — Juuse Saros made a career-high 47 saves, Nick Bonino scored his first game-winning goal of the season and Nashville topped Vegas.The Predators moved into a first-place tie with Winnipeg in the Central Division, both at 64 points.Bonino scored 3:53 into the second period and Saros made the 2-1 lead stand up. Ryan Johnson also scored for the Predators.Despite a 20-7-3 run since Nov. 21, Vegas has lost four of six. The defending Western Conference champions, who lost Monday at home to Minnesota, had not lost back-to-back games at home all season.Max Pacioretty scored for the Golden Knights, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves.HURRICANES 5, CANUCKS 2VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and two assists, Nino Niederreiter scored twice and Carolina beat Vancouver.Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for Carolina in his first NHL start. Greg McKegg and Dougie Hamilton each added a goal and an assist as the Hurricanes snapped Vancouver’s five-game point streak in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break and their bye weeks.Sebastian Aho had two assists, and Carolina took five points during a three-game road swing through Canada.Teravainen’s big performance came two days after the forward agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $27 million.Josh Leivo and Sven Baertschi scored for the Canucks. Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 shots.