The Washington Capitals announced that they have recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard ahead of Saturday night’s game against the Knights in Las Vegas. Shepard will replace Charlie Lindgren as the backup for the game against the Knights. Lindgren took a maintenance day on Saturday and will not suit up due to an undisclosed injury.
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ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Shepard, 28, has a record of 2-0-0 with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage in two games with the Capitals this season. Shepard made his NHL debut and earned his first career win on Oct. 25 at New Jersey. On Nov. 11 against the New York Islanders, Shepard stopped 36 of 37 shots and was named the game’s First Star in a 4-1 Washington win. In 10 games with Hershey this season, Shepard has posted a record of 9-1-0 with a 2.66 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage. Shepard’s nine wins rank tied for second in the AHL.
Shepard appeared in 33 games with Hershey last season, posting a record of 20-8-5 with a 2.18 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage and one shutout. The 6’0″, 219-pound goaltender ranked second among AHL goaltenders in goals-against average and tied for sixth in save percentage. Shepard, who was awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs, started all 20 playoff games for the Bears, posting a 14-6 record with a 2.27 goals-against average, a .914 save percentage and three shutouts en route to the franchise’s league-record 12th championship. In 55 career AHL games with Hershey, Shepard has a record of 37-12-5 with a 2.19 goals-against average, a .917 save percentage and three shutouts.
A native of Cohasset, Minnesota, Shepard won back-to-back NCAA Championships with Minnesota-Duluth in 2018 and 2019. In addition, he was twice named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Goaltender of the Year (2019 and 2020) and earned First-Team All-American honors in 2019 and Second-Team All-American honors in 2020. With Minnesota-Duluth, Shepard started an NCAA-record 115 straight games from Oct. 21, 2017 to March 7, 2020. Shepard finished his NCAA career as a three-time Mike Richter Award Finalist – given to the NCAA’s top goaltender – and a three-time All-NCHC selection.
UH-OH!!! But maybe, the worse things look for the Caps, the better they play???
It seems Strome is back centering the first line? Carbs did say he will be trying new options for the first line at center. (Trying to find smth positive ahead of the game…)
The Stingrays are not getting the goaltending this year that they got last year with Clay and Tyler ruling the net. Gibson is 46th with a 0.898 S% and Bjorklund is 58th with a 0.880.