The Washington Capitals will take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights for the first time this season. This is the first game of a four-game homestand. Here is what you need to know from Tuesday’s morning skate.
Charlie Lindgren will be in between the pipes for the Capitals. Darcy Kuemper will return to the Caps’ bench after he missed the last two games due to being “nicked up”. Lindgren made 24 saves on 26 shots in the 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Joel Edmundson and Trevor van Riemsdyk skated in normal jersey’s for the first time. Meanwhile, Anthony Mantha was on the ice but still in a non-contact jersey.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery says that all three of them are “real close” and could be back in the lineup as early as Saturday, when the Caps take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. All three of them were doing extra work according to Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir.
Less close is Fehervary (lower body injury). He’s “unlikely” for Sat. vs CBJ but he could resume skating soon(ish) after that. “Doing better but still not skating so that signals not close,” Carbery said. “But I don’t think this is a multiple week thing.” #Caps https://t.co/HJHDAuy2cf
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 14, 2023
Martin Fehervary did not skate but is close to resume according to Carbery. He is currently on IR with a lower-body injury.
4th Line Fury
The line of Nic Dowd, Beck Malenstyn and Nic Aube-Kubel has combined for six points (3g, 3a) in Washington’s last two games. In addition, the Capitals have outscored the opposition 1-0 at five-on-five with the trio on the ice. Aube-Kubel, who made his Capitals season debut on Nov. 10 at New Jersey, recorded two points (1g, 1a) in his first game back in the lineup and has registered the primary assist on both Malenstyn’s and Dowd’s first goals of the season.
“I’m happy that as soon as I stepped on [the ice,] I brought energy and I’m happy that it paid off.”
Nicolas Aube-Kubel joins @VogsCaps on Rinkside Update to discuss his immediate impact since being called up on Nov. 10.#CapsKnights | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/GkaRXAOe3S
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 14, 2023
Dowd also returned to the Capitals’ lineup on Nov. 10 after missing the previous nine games due to injury and won a team-high 25 of 41 faceoffs (61.0 percent) during the Capitals weekend sweep of the Devils and Islanders. Malenstyn, who leads Capitals forwards in blocked shots (20) and ranks tied for second on the team in hits (29), enters tonight’s game with a point in two-straight contests (1g, 1a).
Champs In Town
The Capitals host the Vegas Golden Knights tonight at Capital One Arena for the first of two meetings between the teams this season. Tonight’s game marks the start of a four-game homestand for Washington (Nov. 11 vs. VGK; Nov. 18 vs. CBJ; Nov. 22 vs. BUF; Nov. 24 vs. EDM). The Capitals have four homestands of at least four games on their schedule and recently finished a five-game homestand (Oct. 27-Nov. 8) with a record of 3-1-1.
Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena.
By Jacob Cheris
Gotta get past this game and probably the game after before we get reinforcements, but the sooner TvR and Edmundson come back the sooner we can send guys like McIlrath and HHA back down to Hershey. Lapierre also needs to get sent back down. The absence of all those guys is being felt. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle Mantha and Patches returns.