September 24 vs. Boston Bruins at TD Garden
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: Team 980, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (0-1-0)
Boston Bruins (0-1-0)
Following an off day on Monday, the Caps return to preseason motion on Tuesday evening once they take to the street for the first time. The Caps head up to Boston for similar day preseason tilt in opposition to the Bruins, a contest that serves as the entrance finish of a set of back-to-backs. The Capitals return house after Tuesday’s sport, and a largely recent set of gamers will journey to New Jersey for a Wednesday evening date with the Devils.
When that New Jersey sport is in the books, the Caps could have performed half of their preseason schedule earlier than coaching camp is even one week previous.
On Sunday at Capital One Arena, the Caps dropped a 6-2 determination to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers in their preseason opener. Philly jumped in entrance early, and a youthful group of Caps spent the afternoon unsuccessfully pursuing that early scoreboard deficit. Andrew Cristall and Ivan Miroshnichenko scored for Washington, the latter lighting the lamp on the energy play.
Five of the dozen District skaters in Sunday’s opener are nonetheless a bit south of their respective twentieth birthdays; the Caps undoubtedly leaned inexperienced for his or her exhibition opener. For Tuesday’s sport in opposition to the Bruins, we’re anticipating to see fewer of Washington’s most lately drafted gamers, a extra liberal sprinkling of established veterans, and a handful of gamers who suited up on Sunday seeing motion once more, for the second time in as many video games.
Among the eight gamers slated to swimsuit up for every of the Caps’ first two preseason video games is Hendrix Lapierre, who logged 15:35 in Sunday’s opener whereas successful 5 of 13 attracts on the afternoon. In his earlier camps in Washington, Lapierre has been battling for a roster berth. But coming off a stellar efficiency in the Calder Cup playoffs – he was awarded the Jack Butterfield Trophy as the playoff MVP – and a robust late-season run in DC, Lapierre is seen as a bona fide NHL participant now; his Hershey days must be in the rear view.
The youngest participant to win the Butterfield Trophy in seven years, the 22-year-old Lapierre completed sturdy in Washington, taking part in in every of the workforce’s final 26 video games. The Capitals went 14-10-2 over that stretch, and Lapierre chipped in with six objectives and 15 factors throughout that span, rating fourth on the workforce in scoring. Only Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome and John Carlson totaled extra factors for the Caps in their unbelievable run to the playoffs over the last third of final season.
“I think it’s just learning every day, and my mentality is that every day I’m going to do what I can to have success,” displays Lapierre, of an eventful final six months in his profession. “And finally, when these days add up and you perform a little bit of additional and stuff like that, finally it comes out and also you achieve optimistic issues from that. For me, it’s about sticking to the course of. I do know that’s very cliché, however that’s actually what it was; in the future, you’re going to really feel comfy, you’re going to really feel higher. You’ve simply bought to get used to it.
“I don’t think there was a point last year where I felt like I really flipped a switch. I started the year strong in the [AHL], then I had a little bit of a taste in the NHL. I got back to the [AHL], and when I finally got back in February, it was like, ‘Okay, now it’s time to shine.’ And the worst thing that can happen is I get sent down again, right? And I’ve been sent down three times. So I was like, ‘All right, let’s just do it.’ And I started playing really good, and feeling comfortable and kind of getting a sense of all of this. And now I feel like I belong here, I want to play here, I want to have an impact, and I want to help the team win.”
Another notable taking place for Tuesday’s journey to Boston is the chance of each Protas brothers – Aliaksei and Ilya – suiting up in the similar sweater for a sport at any degree. The Belarusian brothers had been drafted 5 years aside, each in the third spherical of their respective draft years. Although they've clearly practiced and educated collectively, their age distinction has precluded them from being teammates in the similar sport, till Tuesday.
Aliaksei begins a five-year contract extension this season, whereas Ilya will start his North American profession with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. Earlier this month, in his exhibition debut with Windsor, the youthful Protas notched a hat trick.
The Protas brothers are one among two units of brothers at Caps’ camp this fall; Dylan and Matt Strome are again for his or her third camp collectively.
Boston additionally fell in its personal preseason opener, dropping a 3-2 determination to the Rangers on Sunday at TD Garden. The Bruins additionally dressed a lineup sparsely populated with veterans, which is probably going to be the case once more on Tuesday. The B’s have the luxurious – or the curse, relying upon your viewpoint – of yet another preseason sport than the Caps this fall. Boston has seven exhibitions on the slate.
The Caps and Bruins will meet once more on Oct. 5 right here in DC in the last preseason tuneup for each groups.
