The Washington Capitals announced prior to their game against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday (2 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington locally, NHL Network nationally) that goaltender Darcy Kuemper is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will be unavailable for the contest.
The 32-year-old suffered the injury in practice on Saturday after starting 13 of Washington’s 15 games since the NHL All-Star Break.
INJURY UPDATE: #Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper is out for today’s game with an upper body injury. He is listed as day-to-day.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 19, 2023
Kuemper is 20-22-5 with a .911 save percentage, 2.77 goals-against average, and five shutouts in 48 games during his first season in Washington.
Zach Fucale was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Saturday and is expected to back up Charlie Lindgren, who will start for the second time in Washington’s last three, in Minnesota.
#Caps lines/pairs in MIN:
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 73-Sheary
15-Milano, 19-Backstrom, 16-Smith
77-Oshie, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
59-Protas, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
27-Alexeyev, 42-Fehervary
52-Irwin, 18-CarlssonLindgren vs. Fleury. #CapsWild
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) March 19, 2023
Captain Alex Ovechkin took the ice for the pregame skate after he was labeled as a game-time decision due to a lower-body injury. The 37-year-old took a maintenance day on Saturday.
By Harrison Brown