The Capitals were hit by the injury bug again on Saturday against Columbus, as forward Chandler Stephenson suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury. Stephenson, listed as day-to-day by the Capitals, will not play tonight. Instead, Travis Boyd, recalled from Hershey Sunday, will play in his first NHL game.
Boyd will take Stephenson’s place on the third line in his debut. Tyler Graovac is the odd man out again.
Looks like Travis Boyd will make his NHL debut. On the left side of third-line center Lars Eller. Graovac out.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 4, 2017
“I’m just hoping to get through tonight all right and just really trying to show the coaches up here what I can do,” Boyd said after the skate. “Hopefully I can go out there and play my game and not let the magnitude of it for me affect what I can do.”
Travis Boyd (@Tboyd93) making his NHL debut tonight in DC. #CapsSharks #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/lfCRu4H2gP
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 4, 2017
Meanwhile, top-six forward Andre Burakovsky is back on the ice skating with the team. Burakovsky, still on injured reserve, had surgery on a broken thumb on October 24. Burakovsky will participate in practice tomorrow and is on track to return as soon as next week.
Burakovsky will practice with the team tomorrow. Target is for him to play early next week.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 4, 2017
“It still feels a little bit weird when I’m skating with the puck and shooting,” Burakovsky said to the media after the morning skate. “Not in my thumb or anything, it’s just I haven’t been handling a puck in a while, I haven’t been shooting a puck in a while. It’s kind of like starting all over a little bit, so I just have to get that back.”
Andre Burakovsky injury update as he returns to skating with the team for the first time this morning. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/khdo3T7C4k
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 4, 2017
Boyd and the Caps take on the Sharks tonight at 7PM on NBCSNW.
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