Home / News / After a 10-game absence, Richard Panik will play against the Arizona Coyotes

After a 10-game absence, Richard Panik will play against the Arizona Coyotes

By Ian Oland

 0 Comment

November 11, 2019 12:13 pm

Richard Panik will draw back into the Capitals lineup Monday against the Arizona Coyotes. Before signing a four-year contract with the Capitals in July, Panik played two seasons with the Coyotes. He had 33 points in 75 games last year.

“I’m really excited,” Panik said after practice. “It’s been a long road but finally I’m 100 percent. I’m excited to jump on the running train.”

Panik, out injured since October 15 with an upper-body injury, began skating without a no-contact injury last Tuesday. To make room for Panik back on the roster, the Capitals optioned Travis Boyd and Tyler Lewington, who was put on waivers Sunday, down to the Hershey Bears.

Panik will skate on the third line with Lars Eller and Chandler Stephenson. Ilya Samsonov will start in net.

Carl Hagelin did not skate and remains out with an upper-body injury.

Panik was initially injured after crashing into Jonas Siegenthaler after a faceoff. Panik revealed that it was a shoulder injury that landed him on the long-term injured reserved list and kept him out for a month.

“I lost balance a little bit and I reach for puck to poke it and I think Siegs was pretty much doing the same thing,” Panik said. “He didn’t see me. The ref was there too. He just hit me in a bad position in my shoulder. Just bad luck.

“I felt it right away. It’s not good,” Panik said. “I had a problem with that before but this was totally different pain so I just wanted to try to finish the shift.”

Through eight games this season, Panik has no points and only seven shots.

“That’s my main focus now. It wasn’t a good start for me,” Panik said. “But (when) I was sitting out, I could think about what I should do better, how should I play, what should I bring to the team, so it’s a good opportunity for me to start over.”

Panik identified just being fresh to Todd Reirden’s way of playing as being one of the factors for his slow start.

“Just the general system,” Panik said. “It’s not a big difference, but the best hockey I play is when you don’t think about it. You just go out there and play and that’s what I’m focused on now.”

More from the Capitals:

The Washington Capitals have assigned defenseman Tyler Lewington and forward Travis Boyd to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.

Lewington, 24, has appeared in five games with the Capitals this season. The 6’2″, 200-pound defenseman recorded 15 points (3g, 12a) and 121 penalty minutes in 65 games with Hershey in 2018-19. Lewington’s 121 penalty minutes led the team and ranked tied for ninth in the AHL. In seven career NHL games, Lewington has recorded two points (1g, 1a) and 24 penalty minutes. Lewington has appeared in 240 career AHL games, recorded 49 points (12g, 37a), 501 penalty minutes and has posted a +29 plus/minus rating. Lewington was drafted by the Capitals in the seventh round, 204th overall, in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Boyd, 26, has recorded 25 points (5g, 20a) in 67 career games with the Capitals, including four assists in six games this season. Last season with Washington, the Hopkins, Minn., native’s 1.01 primary assists per 60 minutes of five-on-five play ranked second on the Capitals, behind only Evgeny Kuznetsov (1.15). This season, the 6’0″, 190-pound forward has recorded six points (4g, 2a) in three games with Hershey. Boyd was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 13. Boyd was drafted by the Capitals in the sixth round, 177th overall, in the 2011 NHL Draft.

Headline photo: @Capitals

, , ,