Hockey is officially back. The Washington Capitals won their first preseason game of the year, taking down the Boston Bruins 5-2 in Boston yesterday evening.
Andrew Cristall is the only Capital forward that did not suit up for Washington’s opener against Boston, while the other six forwards played, in competition for two of the open forward spots.
The Capitals lines for this game are above. Lots of familiar names in this group.
Game Recap
The Capitals went down early in the first period after Morgan Geekie of the Bruins rifled one home. This was an absolute laser from one of the Bruins set NHL’ers, there was nothing the players on the ice or starting goalie Logan Thompson could do about that one.
Then the fun would really begin. Sonny Milano, who missed the vast majority of last season due to injury, kicked off the scoring with an unbelievable turnaround backhand shot that was so perfectly placed, it actually got stuck under the water bottle holder inside the net.
Hendrix Lapierre with excellent positioning and an excellent pass to get the main assist on this play. This game would be a big start to the preseason for Lapierre too, as he would give the Capitals the lead by being in the right spot positionally again.
If you played hockey at any level at all as a kid, you’ll probably have memories of your coach saying “if you get yourself in the right spot every time, good things will happen.” You also probably have memories of you rolling your eyes at that because that seems obvious. But it’s also very true, especially the higher up the level you get in hockey. Positioning and that hockey IQ is vital to a successful career and it felt like Lapierre was in the right spots every time he was on the ice tonight. It’s only preseason, but what a huge night for him.
Milano would get his second of the night off a beautiful pass from Ethen Frank, who worked on a line with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime this game. Then the two Russian Bears from last season would link up for Washingtons fourth of the period. Ivan Miroshnichenko would win a battle for the puck and get it right on the stick of the charging Bogdan Trineyev, who put it home from right in front of the net to make it 4-1. Miroshnichenko, Trineyev and Henrik Rybinski all looked good tonight as they played together on the third line.
The teams would trade goals in the second, with Patrick Brown getting one back for the Bruins, before Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre would get their fourth and third points of the night by getting the assists on Ryan Chesley’s goal that would make it 5-2 Capitals. It was a huge night for both Lapierre and Milano in the battle for those open spots in the forward group.
5-2 is the score the game would end up at, in part due to the excellent work in net Garin Bjorklund did in his half of the game, stopping all fifteen shots he faced in goal, including twelve in the third period. Bjorklund also went 5-5 in the mandatory preseason shootout, which the Capitals would also take 1-0.
Winners of the Night
A couple of big winners from game one of the Capitals preseason:
- Sonny Milano: There are some who thought Milano could get the Ethan Bear pathway this season after missing much of the last 12 months of hockey activities through injury. Four points in your first game back, even if it is just preseason, is a statement. Welcome back Sonny.
- Hendrix Lapierre: Fans know, coaches know, and Lapierre himself knows how important this camp is for him this year after he failed to hold down a spot in the NHL last season, unable to continue his momentum from the end of the 23-24 season. He was impressing attendees through the first three days of camp and three points is a big statement in his first preseason game.
- Vincent Iorio: It won’t show up in the points category, but Iorio led all Capitals defensemen last night with over twenty-one minutes of ice-time. It’ll be interesting to see how much Iorio, who is no longer waivers eligible, pushes Dylan McIlrath for that backup RHD spot in Washington.
- Garin Bjorklund: A great performance from Clay Stevenson’s likely backup in Hershey this season. He went 15-15 in regulation and then stopped all five in the postgame shootout. He looked solid in net and made a couple of really nice saves to keep the score at 5-2. He’s one to watch as a potential breakout candidate this year in Hershey.
The Chocolate Roar 