The Washington Capitals will play their first road preseason game on Saturday. They’ll rematch the Detroit Red Wings who they just beat 4-3 at Capital One Arena on Thursday.
The Caps dressed a primarily NHL-veteran laden up against the Wings in that win as new head coach Spencer Carbery wanted to get his older players a game at home. With the team now staring down three in a row on the road, Carbery has gone back to a more mixed roster of NHL vets, prospects, and AHL standouts.
The roster for tomorrow night's first preseason game on the road in Detroit.#CapsWings | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/g69LvEZf2I
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 29, 2023
The majority of the players listed for Saturday’s game practiced in Friday’s first group. Here are how those lines and defense pairings looked on the ice:
Mantha-Strome-Phillips
Milano-Protas-Frank
Malenstyn-Lapierre-NAK
Limoges-Sutter-Trineyev
Fehervary-McIlrath
TVR-Priskie
Leivermann-Day-Ness
A handful of players from that group will not travel to Detroit as they’ve been replaced by names from the second, later practice group.
Instead of Nick Leivermann, Logan Day, or Aaron Ness on defense, the Caps are bringing Alex Alexeyev, Hardy Haman Aktell, and Jon McDonald and instead of Alex Limoges up front, it’ll be Joe Snively. The two goaltenders traveling, Charlie Lindgren and Hunter Shepard, are also from Group B and were the team’s tandem on Thursday where Lindgren played the entire game.
Alexeyev, if he dresses, will have played in all three Caps preseason games so far and been the only player to do so. The young, Russian blueliner is involved in a Training Camp battle with Haman Aktell, Lucas Johansen, and Vincent Iorio to fill Joel Edmundson’s open third pairing spot.
“It’s what these guys want, right?” Carbery said on Tuesday. “They want to prove that they’re an everyday NHL player on a good team. So it’s right there, I love that. I mean, not for Joel’s case — but for guys that are just waiting for that one break to be able to get into the lineup. And sometimes it comes in another person’s misfortune.”
Ethen Frank, Beck Malenstyn, Bogdan Trineyev, and Chase Priskie all appear slated to make their preseason debuts.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
