BELLEVILLE, Ont. -- Brooks Laich could tell as soon as the Washington Capitals got off their bus Saturday morning how big of a deal this was. They were arriving at Yardmen Arena to play the Winnipeg Jets in the NHLs pre-season opener as part of the Hockeyville event that takes the game to a small town in Canada. "There was about 300 kids outside the rink lined up and I was there once," Laich said. "I know how theyre feeling, I know how important it is." Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green were there for the Capitals, and Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian for the Jets. Star power was prevalent in the game, won by the Capitals 4-3 in a shootout in front of a packed house in Belleville. "It was a lot of fun," said Green, who scored the shootout winner. "We didnt know what to expect, and the city welcomed us with open arms. We had a lot of fun today, yeah. It was exciting." Kane knew the teams would put on a show for the event celebrating the nearby town of Stirling-Rawdon, Ont., and they did, with the Jets star doing his part by scoring twice. Kane was playing on a line with off-season trade acquisition Devin Setoguchi and top prospect Mark Scheifele, an experiment of Claude Noels that seemed to work quite well. "I thought me and Seto established some good chemistry and Scheifs did a good job of distributing the puck," Kane said. "Playing with Seto was great. Me and Seto seemed to find each other pretty well out there. Its only one game and its going to be nice to grow, as this pre-season goes on heading into the regular season, together." Six goals on 82 shots made for plenty of entertainment for the capacity crowd of over 3,000. The goaltenders were brilliant, but the back-and-forth play was at least partially the product of rust in the first pre-season game for both teams. "It was a little more offence than defence for what wed want but thats what happens in pre-season, games are pretty wide open," Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby said. "Its good to get back in that rhythm with those skilled guys on the ice to remember why its so fun to play against the best in the world." But even a lacklustre, low-scoring game wouldve meant everything in this community, that Washington defenceman Jack Hillen said "appreciated" seeing this level of hockey in person. "I think sometimes as players, too, we forget really how important the NHL is to people and how delicate it is to be in the NHL," said Laich, who did not play because of a left hip flexor injury. "Its just a really, really cool experience." Fans were almost robbed of the chance of seeing Ovechkin play a full game. He took a high stick to the face from Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot in the first period. Ovechkin was down on the ice for some time before skating to the bench and going down the tunnel. He returned to the game a couple of minutes later. "Ovi always seems to come out of it," Green said. "He looks mangled but hes always OK. I guess thats why they call him the Russian machine." Ovechkin did not speak to reporters after the game, though he tweeted a photo of himself with the message that he "just had plastic surgery." Washington coach Adam Oates said he thought Ovechkin got a couple of stitches in his lip. Oates said Ovechkin was fine "considering" how it couldve been much worse. "It was a very scary one," Oates said. "Obviously dont want to see that from anybody. He was skating at the guy, you knew the angle of the stick you knew that had some force behind it and obviously could have been a scary moment." Atlanta Braves Gear . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue. Ender Inciarte Braves Jersey .com) - Driphus Jackson had three touchdown passes, including two in a 19-second span in the opening quarter, to guide Rice to a 30-6 rout of Fresno State at the Hawaii Bowl. https://www.cheapbraves.com/263o-bryse-w...sey-braves.html. Make that, almost always subjective. Saturday at Carrow Road, the spirit of fair play trumped the rulebook, costing Norwich City three points. Peter Moylan Braves Jersey ... as usual. Even with the salary cap being set lower than many general managers expected and hoped for at $69 million and whats considered a shallow pool of top-end players available, this unrestricted-free-agent period figures to follow the familiar script of teams bidding up prices to keep up with each other. Darren ODay Jersey .Boston beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Tuesday night and celebrated consecutive wins for the first time in more than a month.The Canucks visit Edmonton tonight in the first of a home-and-home series that will close the preseason for both teams. TSN1040 pregame show begins at 4:00, Jon Abbott and Dave Tomlinson have the call at 6:00. Linden Vey will get a chance to slot in on the wing, alongside Nick Bonino and Alex Burrows. That will be the Canucks de facto number one line against the Oilers. Shawn Matthias will play at centre, as Matthias will work between Chris Higgins and Jannik Hansen. Matthias can play on the wing or down the middle, and his versatility will be a factor in Matthias earning playing time this season. The Canucks three hopeful youngsters will all suit up against the Oilers, as Bo Horvat will centre a line of Tom Sestito and Derek Dorsett, while Hunter Shinkaruk and Nicklas Jensen will skate with Cal Oa€?Reilly. On the backend, the Canucks will have a fair bit of experience, as Alex Edler, Kevin Bieksa, Dan Hamhuis, Chris Tanev, Luca Sbisa, aand Ryan Stanton will play.dddddddddddd Eddie Lack will get the start in goal against the Oilers, while Ryan Miller will start in Saturdaya€?s game. The Sedins and Radim Vrbata will not travel to Edmonton, which means the Twins will appear in four home games and no road games in exhibition action. Linden Vey has switched from uniform number 44 to number 7. The low-key forward said double-digits seemed a little flashy for him and he preferred a lower number. With Vey on the wing, the Canucks will have four left-handed centres in tonights game. Canucks Lines Burrows-Bonino-Vey Higgins-Matthias-Hansen Sestito-Horvat-Dorsett Shinkaruk-OReilly-Jensen Edler-Tanev Hamhuis-Bieksa Stanton-Sbisa Lack Miller Oilers Lines Hall-RNH-Yakupov Joensuu- Draisaitl-Purcell Acton-Yakimov- Pitlick Pinizzotto- Lander- Westgarth Nikitin- Fayne Nurse- Hunt Aulie- Marincin Fasth ' ' '