Washington Capitals: Preseason Wrap Up

What an entertaining six preseason games Washington Capitals fans. If those were any indication, we’re set for an awesome 2019-20 regular season.

None of these games counted but for several members of the Washington Capitals, they made their time on the ice count as they gear up for another highly anticipated season with plenty at stake.

We’ve seen several young prospects make an impact on the ice. We’ve seen many of the mainstream players treat these games like they weren’t the preseason. It all started when Tom Wilson scored in overtime to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Capitals followed that up with wins over the St. Louis Blues on a game-winning goal from Nicklas Backstrom and the Carolina Hurricanes at Capital One Arena before playing these same foes again on the road. Things got started with a dominant 6-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks that saw several players, especially these three, have their best games of the preseason.

The Capitals not only concluded the exhibition slate over the weekend but added to their roster cuts as well. The team loaned Shane Gersich, Lucas Johansen, Beck Malenstyn, Brian Pinho, Vitek Vanecek, and Colby Williams to the Hershey Bears after their contest on Friday in St. Louis.

The Capitals recalled Gersich for their preseason finale in Raleigh, earning a road win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Capitals drop first preseason game to St. Louis Blues

Nobody’s perfect and Washington’s undefeated start to the preseason came to an end on Friday night in St. Louis in both of their final meetings with each other until opening night.

The Capitals got off to a solid start with Travis Boyd pouncing on a turnover in the neutral zone. Boyd dished the puck to Evgeny Kuznetsov and came down the ice to catch a pass on the odd man rush and put a shot past Ville Husso at 3:40 in the opening period.

The Capitals doubled their lead with a goal from Carl Hagelin on an excellent wrist shot off a pass from Lars Eller to go up 2-0 at 10:11.

The Blues got one back late in the first period thanks to Jaden Schwartz. In the second period, the Blues tallied on three unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead heading into the final period. Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko scored on even strength while Tyler Bozak struck on the power play.

Travis Boyd and Chandler Stephenson both hope to be on the roster for the long term and it’s only fitting that Stephenson would score later in the game for his first of the preseason. Stephenson drove to the net and put the puck through on a deflection shot from Mike Sgarbossa.

That would be as close as the Capitals got as they dropped their first preseason game 4-3. Braden Holtby got the start in goal and played the entire game, stopping 21-of-25 shots for a .840 save percentage.