So far, the Boston Bruins are responding to fiery coach Robbie Ftorek. 
Byron Dafoe recorded 22 saves for his 23rd career shutout as the Bruins blanked the Washington Capitals, 4-0, Monday to open a season with three straight wins for the first time since 1994. 
Benefiting from a strong defense in front of him, Dafoe registered his 100th victory in a Boston uniform. The Bruins kept the shutout intact by killing a 48-second 5-on-3 penalty midway through the third period. 
Dafoe's best stop came eight minutes into the third period when he made a blocker save on Jeff Halpern's partial breakaway. 
"We are playing well, not giving up odd-man rushes," said Dafoe, who has all but one of his shutouts with the Bruins. "Robbie stresses defense and we have good defensive speed." 
Boston played without right wing Bill Guerin, who served the first of a three-game suspension for accidentally hitting Atlanta Thrashers center Patrick Stefan in the face with his stick in the third period of Saturday's game. 
Guerin scored a remarkable goal in overtime against the Thrashers, sweeping a backhander past goaltender Milan Hnilicka while lying on his back. 
But the Bruins did not miss Guerin on Monday, outworking the Capitals throughout. Boston got goals from four different players, including power-play tallies in the second period by Sergei Samsonov and Joe Thornton, who also recorded a pair of assists. 
"Our guys answered the call," Ftorek said. "It was a nice scrap. We did a good job with penalty killing. We were keeping sticks in the lanes. Also, we won faceoffs, which were a key." 
Jaromir Jagr had four shots for the Capitals, but just one after the first period. 
"(Defenseman) Hal (Gill) did a good job shutting down Jagr," Ftorek said. "He was a pest all night." 
Washington was coming off a season-opening 6-1 victory over the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils on Saturday. 
"We came out flat and we were outhustled," Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "They clogged up the lanes and didn't give our guys a chance. When we did get a decent chance, Byron played great and kept the puck out. It didn't help that we took too many penalties." 
The Bruins have scored four goals in each of their first three games. Their aggressive forechecking against the Capitals created nine power plays. Washington was 0-for-7 with the man advantage. 
"Playing good defensive hockey is key," Thornton said. "We scored off our good defense. They underestimated us a little. If we play like this every game, we will be fine." 
Thornton help open the scoring with a spectacular individual effort. He skated down the right wing, then fought off a check with a one-arm pass in front to Martin Lapointe, who poked the puck past Olaf Kolzig with 5:12 left in the first. 
"Thornton can work with anybody," Ftorek said. "Joe always gives you offensive chances. Tonight he also backchecked well ... a real complete game." 
The Bruins made it 2-0 at 5:32 of the second when Samsonov took a feed in the slot from Thornton and snapped a quick wrist underneath the right crossbar. 
Just 73 seconds later, Thornton banged in a rebound of Brian Rolston's blast while falling down to make it 3-0. Mike Knuble also scored off a rebound to complete the scoring at 5:13 of the third. 
"We played a full 60 minutes," Bruins defenseman Kyle McClaren said. "We played with discipline and didn't take any bad penalties." 
McClaren suffered a bruised chest muscle with five minutes left in the second period when he delivered a crunching check on Halpern while trying to get to the puck to break up an icing call and is listed as day-to-day. 
Less then a minute later, the two players dropped the gloves and were assessed fighting penalties. 
The physical contest featured four fights, including one after the final buzzer when Washington rookie Stephen Peat and Boston's P.J. Stock mixed it up. 
Kolzig recorded 28 saves, including 15 in the first period when he kept the Capitals in the game.