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With paying a visit to the home of their American League affiliate in Hershey, Pa., the Washington Capitals carried more of a lineup for the home crowd, with the bottom half the roster having a Bears feel.
Despite the lighter lineup than Sunday’s in Boston, some familiar names destined for Washington lit the lamp with Aliaksei Protas, Ryan Leonard and Dylan Strome scoring for the Capitals, while Jordan Kryou picked up his first point in his exhibition debut for the club in a 5-2 Washington win.
One player looking to make the cut, Jonny Brodzinski, scored a pair of third-goals for Washington, as he makes his case to make the roster. His tallies blew open a one-goal game in the third, and included a short-handed tally and now has contributed three goals in two games for the Capitals.
One of the key factors with a lineup that is mostly set is waiver status, and clearly the club will take a longer look at longer guys who can be claimed by other teams, and Brodzinski and Ivan Miroshnichenko, two of the top players in the first two contests are both eligible to be claimed if sent down, but are certainly doing their best to make the roster.
Also significant for the shaping of Washington’s roster was in net, as Charlie Lindgren and Clay Stevenson split time for the Caps. Lindgren allowed 2 goals on 14 shots, while Stevenson had an easy half, allowing 0 goals on 6 shots in the second half, 4 of which came on one 5-minute Philadelphia power play.
While the decision who will back up Logan Thompson certainly will be more decided by contract status than any exhibition performance, certainly if Washington thinks they can get an equivalent performance out of Stevenson, who makes $2.2 million less of a cap hit this season, it will make the decision tilt toward the younger netminder.
Stevenson also was in net for a major penalty against Andrew Cristall, who was tossed for a cross-check on Hunter McDonald after a hard hit along the boards on Ryan Leonard. Cristall, who is looking to crack the Washington roster, was quick to defend his teammate and got approval from the crowd.
Asked about the play afterwards, while Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said while his head was in the right place, his pained look said it all.
“His heart’s in the right place, he said. “He’s trying to stick up for one of his brothers. He’s trying to do the right thing… I know where he was coming from and I appreciate that. You just try want to try to do that as clean as you can in those moments.”
Washington did well in its first major penalty kill of the season, limiting the Flyers to just 4 shots and generating 2 of their own, and essentially was the turning point in the contest as the Capitals had more goals the rest of the way than the Flyers had shots.
Also of note during the contest Cole Knuble, son of former Caps forward Mike, scored for Philadelphia as he looks to make the Flyers’ roster.
The Capitals also moved to 3-1 in preseason games in Hershey with the win, having beaten the Flyers 5-1 last September and the Penguins 3-2 in 2005, with their lone setback 20 years ago against New Jersey.
With Hershey opening camp, a number of skaters will be back in Chocolatetown, with the Bears looking to bounce back from a too-short season for their liking, and opening October 3 against Charlotte.
As for the others; after two games in two nights, the Capitals will have a couple of days in camp to work on things before holding the lone home game at Capital One Arena Friday when they host the Boston Bruins. The abbreviated preseason ends Saturday afternoon with a visit to Philadelphia.
One question is when fans will see Alexander Ovechkin, who is officially day-to-day with a lower-body injury. While Spenser Carbery told reporters at camp the Friday lineup would have a dress rehearsal feel, question is if their captain would be part of it.
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