Washington Capitals fans, pat yourselves on the back. We’ve made it through another offseason.
Tonight the Washington Capitals will open the season in front of the entire hockey world against the St. Louis Blues. The last two Stanley Cup champions on hockey’s biggest stage.
Last season saw the Blues capture their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in a Cinderella run much similar to the Capitals’ Cup run the previous year. Both Cup runs were unique in their own ways. The Caps had “I will wait” while the Blues sang “Gloria”.
The Capitals made one final roster move this morning, waiving Pheonix Copley. This indicates the direction they’ll go with the goaltending this season. Ilya Samsonov will backup Braden Holtby to start the season.
The Capitals will have a back-to-back this weekend on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. We’ll see the debut of the 2015 first rounder this Friday night in New York against the Islanders while Holtby gets the nod for the home opener the next night.
19 year-old defenseman Martin Fehervary will make his NHL debut tonight. Per the Caps, Fehervary is the 10th defenseman in franchise history to debut before turning 20 years old. He was drafted in the second round at 46th overall one year ago.
At morning skate, defenseman Michal Kempny practiced in full contact wearing the traditional defenseman navy blue. He could be back as soon as next week.
Date: October 2, 2019
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Where:
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Network
Radio: WJFK, Caps Radio 24/7
Live Streaming: ESPN+ has a free 7-day trial that includes live streaming for this game on all your smart devices! Besides NHL games, ESPN+ features a selection of live games from MLB, MLS, Serie A, FA Cup, and EFL. Get in on the action with Live UFC Fight Nights, 30+ Top Rank Boxing cards, Grand Slam tennis from Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open.
Here is how the Capitals will line up for this game
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Eller-Oshie
Hagelin-Stephenson-Panik
Leipsic-Dowd-Hathaway
Siegenthaler-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Fehervary-Gudas
Starting goalie: Braden Holtby