The Washington Capitals had a scary moment during practice on Wednesday.
Starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper left the ice early in severe pain after stopping a shot from TJ Oshie during the skate. The 33-year-old backstop needed to be helped back to the Capitals’ locker room.
Darcy Kuemper just hit with a shot and left practice. Had to slide off the ice and was helped back to the locker room.
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) November 15, 2023
Kuemper appeared to take a shot somewhere in the groin area and slid off of the ice almost like he had broken a skate blade. Capitals trainers then needed to help him off the ice and back to the locker room as the rest of the players on the ice went eerily quiet.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was asked after the skate how concerned he was with the injury. “I don’t know,” Carbery said. “I’ll have to get the report on that but not ideal. I think it was a shot potentially where it caught him in the back of the pad or somewhere lower leg in a spot without padding.”
Kuemper has been limited in recent days after getting “nicked up” against the Florida Panthers last week. The Capitals were forced to recall Hunter Shepard from the Hershey Bears and give Shepard a start over the weekend due to Kuemper’s issues.
Shepard was sent back down to Hershey on Tuesday but could make his way right back up to the Capitals before Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Bears play Wednesday night on the road against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
So far this season, Kuemper has gotten into eight games for the Capitals and amassed a 3-3-2 record with a 3.07 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage. The Capitals have leaned heavily on backup Charlie Lindgren in three of their last five games and Lindgren has responded incredibly well to the increased minutes.
Lindgren is now 3-1 on the season with a 1.76 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage. He has stopped 8.7 more goals than expected which is a top five total in the entire NHL.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
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