Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals wrapped-up training camp activities and made their way to St. Louis Tuesday afternoon, ahead of tonight’s season-opening tilt with the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues. Puck drop is “scheduled” for sometime after 8:00 PM., however the Blues will be raising their championship banner this evening, so actual start time may be closer to 8:45 PM. Here’s latest Capitals news from the day:
ROSTER MANAGEMENT
The Capitals announced Wednesday morning, just prior to morning skate, that they have waived goaltender Pheonix Copley, bringing the Capitals total roster to 22 players.
The Capitals reached the league maximum roster of 23 players yesterday afternoon by placing Michael Kempny on injured reserve. The team will need to make one more additional move when Evgeny Kuznetsov completes his three game suspension, and Kempny comes off of injured reserve.
MORNING SKATE
Michal Kempny, who was placed on injured reserved on Tuesday, participated in the team’s morning skate at the enterprise center.
Michal Kempny is not in a light-blue non-contact jersey this AM – regular jersey. He was placed on the team’s injured non roster yesterday.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) October 2, 2019
We’re back!
Yassssssss babe#ALLCAPS #CapsBlues pic.twitter.com/6zmnhMqx9k
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 2, 2019
INJURY UPDATES
Michal Kempny:
Todd Reirden said Michal Kempny, who was skating in a regular dark blue jersey today, is cleared for contact. No update to whether he plays later in the week vs NYI or CAR, but Reirden didn’t rule it out.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) October 2, 2019
LINES
Washington Capitals
Richard Panik, Brendan Leipsic, Garnet Hathaway, Martin Fehervary and Radko Gudas will all make their official debuts with the Capitals this evening. The projected lines for tonight:
#Caps‘ morning skate lines in STL:
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 20-Eller, 77-Oshie
62-Hagelin, 18-Stephenson, 14-Panik
28-Leipsic, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway34-Siegenthaler, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
42-Fehervary, 33-Gudas— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) October 2, 2019
Ilya Samsonov is expected to start vs the Islanders on Friday, per Reirden.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues will go with Jordan Binnington in goal.
No changes on lines:
Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Blais-O’Reilly-Perron
Fabbri-Bozak-Thomas
Barbashev-Sundqvist-Steen
Pietrangeo-Faulk
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Dunn-Bortuzzo— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) October 2, 2019
Power play units also unchanged from earlier in week:
***Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn, Dunn, Thomas
***Pietrangelo, Faulk, O’Reilly, Bozak, Perron— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) October 2, 2019
SHAVINGS
- Alex Ovechkin, who is beginning his 15th NHL season, has recorded 17 points (10g, 7a) in 14 season-opening games, registering at least one point in nine of those games. His 10 goals in season openers are tied with Zach Parise for the most among active players, as are his 17 points (tied with Joe Thornton), and he has one career season-opening hat trick (Oct. 5, 2017 at Ottawa).
- Nicklas Backstrom’s 14 assists in 11 season-opening contests are the most among active players, two shy of tying Gary Suter (16a in 15 games) and Joe Sakic (16a in 20 games) for 10th place on the NHL’s all-time list.
- The Capitals are 3-0-2 in their last five season openers, and their 7-0 win over the Boston Bruins last season tied for the second-largest shutout victory in a season opener in NHL history.
- Tonight’s matchup features the last two Stanley Cup winners, marking just the second time in the NHL’s modern era (1943-44) the two previous Stanley Cup Champions play their first regular season game against each other (Toronto vs. Chicago in 1962-63).
Couple #StanleyCup Champs kicking off the @nhl season tonight#ALLCAPS | #CapsBlues pic.twitter.com/1Q1ReZnIgZ
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 2, 2019
By Jon Sorensen
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