Home / News / Zach Fucale will be traveling with Capitals on their two-game road trip to Detroit and Columbus

Zach Fucale will be traveling with Capitals on their two-game road trip to Detroit and Columbus

By Chris Cerullo

 2 Comments

November 10, 2021 2:52 pm

The Washington Capitals are going to carry three goaltenders with them on their upcoming two-game road trip to Detroit and Columbus.

Zach Fucale, the third of those goaltenders, has yet to make an appearance in the NHL since being a 2013 second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens.

Fucale, who will be wearing Jose Theodore’s old number 60 with Washington, was called up from the AHL’s Hershey Bears Wednesday morning.

Fucale has been a part of 14 different teams across the QMJHL, ECHL, AHL, DEL, and NHL since being drafted in 2013. He arrived in the Capitals organization in August of 2020, signing a one-year, two-way contract. Last March, Fucale was given a two-year, two-way extension to keep him with the club.

“It’s been quite the journey for me,” Fucale said Wednesday. “Been to a lot of different destinations, lot of different leagues, games, Europe and back. A lot of stuff has happened. I feel like the last few years have been trending in the right direction. I got a good thing going and I’m just sticking to my game. I feel like things are working well right now.”

The 26-year-old goaltender has been incredible in net for Hershey since arriving in Chocolatetown. Last season, Fucale posted a 9-2-0 record with a 1.80 goals-against average and a .932-save percentage as part of the AHL’s best team. He has followed that up since with a 3-0-2 record with a 1.73 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage this season.

“There is something that I did,” Fucale said. “I just eliminated a lot of things that I was thinking about during the games. I didn’t do something new, it’s the things that I took out of my game I feel have made the biggest difference. I simplified it a lot and it’s a lot of repetition of little, little things that make a difference for me. I’m just focused on the things that really bring me results and just repeat those and that’s it.”

Vitek Vanecek was seemingly injured in Monday’s win over the Buffalo Sabres after Jeff Skinner fell on top of his left shoulder during a mad scramble in front of the net in the third period. That has necessitated the extra precaution and Fucale’s arrival to DC.

“Vitek had taken a hit at the end of the game there,” Peter Laviolette said in his presser. “We’re just making sure that everything is okay. We’re still assessing things and looking at things through the locker room. Three goalies will travel with us, we have room on the roster right now so we’ll take three goalies with us.”

It’s unclear if Zach will get to start a game, but if he does, it’ll be long deserved.

,