Washington Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek will make his NHL debut.
This comes as no surprise as the Washington Capitals will do battle with the Sabres in less than 90 minutes in the second game of a back to back. Vitek Vanecek, who’s 25, is about to realize a dream come true.
Vanecek was Washington’s second round draft pick in the 2014 NHL Draft and he has spent the last five seasons with the Hershey Bears. Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette confirmed to the media that he will indeed start in his pregame availability.
Laviolette said via Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic:
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"“It’s a good opportunity for him to get in. We’ve got two young goaltenders. I thought Sammy did his job last night. It’s a back-to-back situation. It’s a great time to get everyone involved.”"
Other than that expect the lines and defensive pairs to remain the same. Vanecek was Washington’s backup goaltender in the playoff bubble in Toronto after Ilya Samsnov suffered an injury from an ATV accident. He played in the Caps exhibition game against the Carolina Hurricanes but did not see any action in the round robin or the first round playoff series against the New York Islanders.
The Czech Republic native is a two time AHL all star and won the all star game MVP last year. With the Hershey Bears last season he went 19-10-2 with a .912 save percentage.
From their time in Hershey, Vanecek formed a close relationship with Ilya Samsonov and Jakub Vrana. Vrana scored in last night’s 6-4 win over the Sabres.
Last night Samsonov allowed four goals but made 22 saves finishing with a .846 save percentage. Now it’s time to see what Vanecek will bring to this Caps team.
Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 7 p.m. and you can catch the game on NBC Sports Washington.