The Washington Capitals were back to work Saturday morning following their decisive 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers Friday night. Following practice the team will depart for Chicago in advance of their Sunday night tilt with the Blackhawks. The road trip will then continue west and include stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto, before they return home to host the Buffalo Sabres on November 1. The extended trip is their annual “Horse Show” trip, which yields Capital One Arena to the Washington International Horse Show for the next week.
ROSTER MANAGEMENT
The Capitals re-assigned Martin Fehervary to Hershey Saturday morning. The move indicates that Jonas Siegenthaler likely had no adverse affects from playing last night against the Rangers. Siegenthaler left Wednesday’s game with Toronto with an upper body injury and did not return.
It’s likely the Capitals are trying to get Martin Fehervary on the roster as soon as salary cap constraints subside. Right now the Capitals are going with Jonas Siegenthaler and Tyler Lewington, who are also the two least expensive defensemen in the Capitals organization ($714,000 and $675,000 respectively). Martin Fehervary has an AAV of $895,800.
PRACTICE NOTES
The Capitals kept the same lines from Friday night for practice Saturday morning. That’s a good indication that Michal Kempny, who played in his first game last night since being injured on March 20, survived last nights tilt with no adverse affects.
Those Caps lines look like:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Hagelin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Eller-Hathaway
Leipsic-Dowd-StephensonSiegenthaler-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Kempny-Gudas— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) October 19, 2019
Braden Holtby will get the start tomorrow night in Chicago.
Holtby will start in net vs Chicago Sunday night, per Reirden.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) October 19, 2019
VIDEO:
Finishing off the homestand strong, Kempny returned and the #Caps get another win before heading out on a 10-day road trip.
Caps On The Fly presented by @alibabagroup pic.twitter.com/SSlZYBEq04
— Washington 👻 Capitals (@Capitals) October 19, 2019
After feeling the @nationals support during the Stanley Cup run in 2018, the #Caps are switching roles and showing some Natitude for their #WorldSeries run. #ALLCAPS x #STAYINTHEFIGHT pic.twitter.com/3C9bfsOkIJ
— Washington 👻 Capitals (@Capitals) October 19, 2019
CAPS CLIPS
Caps Win By A Nose (Vogel)
Lars Eller: Capitals Laying A Foundation They Can Build On. (106.7)
Meet Captain. He’s the Capitals New Service Dog In Training, And He’s Pretty Cute (ABC7)
FARM REPORT
The Bears blasted the Belleville Senators Friday night 5-1. Capitals prospect Axel Jonsson-Fjallby scored in the first period, giving him three goals in the last four periods of play. (More here).
Capitals prospect Beck Malenstyn also scored in last nights bull-dozing of Belleville. He has two goals and two assists in six games played so far this season, including a short-hander against Lehigh Valley last Friday.
The Bears are right back after it this evening when they visit Riley Barber, Karl Alzner and the Laval Rocket. Puck drop is 7:00 PM.
NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
- Former Capital Andre Burakovsky scored two goals and an assist in last nights game against the Florida Panthers. (More here).
SHAVINGS
- T.J. Oshie recorded two power play goals last night against the New York Rangers for the second time in his career (Oct. 9, 2017) to helped lead Washington to a 5-2 win.
- Oshie has recorded a power play goal in 34 games as a Capital, and Washington is 26-3-5 in games where he does.
- Last night marked Oshie’s 300th career game as a Capital, and he’s recorded exactly 108 goals and 108 assists since joining Washington.
- Oshie’s goal total since 2015-16, his first year with the Capitals, ranks second on the team (Alex Ovechkin: 188).
captain² pic.twitter.com/66Fn5JRFt2
— Captain (@CapsPup) October 19, 2019
By Jon Sorensen
Odd Todd needs to put his ego aside and put Vrana back on the 2nd line.. you have a 30+ goal sniper I font want to see this turning into Burakovsky 2.0 punishing the elite sniper bc the Dbag coach wants him to focus on forechecking and being a elite defender… meanwhile Burakovsky is lighting the damn world on fire with the Avs bc they are letting him snipe! Leave Vrana alone!! Put him on the 2nd line.. a bang home his 30+ goals and likely 60+points.
Reirden is a jack A
The young rookie d man needs to be on the ice but who to sit down! I like the pairings this past Friday night. Is he as physical as #34? Maybe it’s better for the rookie to hone his skills down in AHL Hershey. Regular playing time is important for his development. Hopefully the last couple of wins at home will give them some momentum to have a successful road trip.
Caps have solved their Dowd-or-Stephenson problem by playing them together on the Fourth Line. Be honest, that Fourth Line looked pretty good against NYR! Essentially everybody looked good in the NYR game. Hope we can have many more games like that one. As usual we will find out a lot of things tomorrow night in Chicago