The Washington Capitals lost 6-2 to a veteran Philadelphia Flyers roster on Sunday, but there were some bright spots.
Andrew Cristall was the Capitals’ best player and scored his first career NHL goal in the preseason. Ivan Miroshnichenko did so too, on the power play, showing off his other-worldly talent.
Miroshnichenko’s tally came with 1:25 remaining in the second period, narrowing the Flyers’ lead to 3-2.
“phew, this’ll remind you of a certain somebody…” the Capitals wrote on X, referring to Alex Ovechkin.
Miroshnichenko aggressively called his own number, perhaps noticing how far back a Flyers defenseman sagged. The Russian forward skated into the left circle and unleashed a lightning-fast snap shot that beat Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov clean.
Terik Parascak registered his first career NHL preseason point on the play, a primary assist, while 2024 Calder Cup champion Alex Limoges got the secondary apple.
Miroshnichenko was part of the Capitals’ second-unit power play, which also featured Limoges, Parascak, Cristall, and Leon Muggli. The first unit featured Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre, Ethen Frank, Jakub Vrana, and Ethan Bear.
“We were trying to set it up in a way that with Lappy and Ethen Frank who’ve played together a little bit, so trying to put Frankie in a spot where he can have some success,” Spencer Carbery explained after the game. “It was just trying to set guys up for success and give V an opportunity to play on that top line with some more quote-unquote veteran guys. But I mean, Miro’s a hell of a shot, and they had more of the sustained pressure and did a good job on their power play.”
On the power play, Miroshnichenko generated three shot attempts by himself and had both shots on goal with the team up a man.
The Russian winger was also on the ice for Cristall’s five-on-five goal, skating on the right wing of a third line centered by Henrik Rybinski. The Capitals finished the night even in shot attempts (10 to 10) and scoring chances (4 to 4) with Miro on the ice but also surrendered a five-on-five goal to the Flyers.
Miroshnichenko is attempting to make the Capitals’ Opening Night roster after playing 21 games in the NHL last season and being one of the Hershey Bears’ best players during their championship run. Miro clearly has the offensive talent to be a force in the NHL, but he still may need more seasoning in the minor leagues. The Capitals were out-attempted 255 to 232 (47.6 shot-attempts percentage) and outscored 11 to 7 at five-on-five when he was on the ice last season.
“I think [these few weeks are] important for everybody that’s not a returning veteran that knows where he’s going to be,” Capitals Chris Patrick said at the start of Training Camp. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s high stakes [for Miro]. You look at Connor McMichael a couple of years ago, right? He won a spot out of camp and was playing and probably not playing to the level that he would like to play at. So we sent him to Hershey to get his legs under him a little bit, and he ended up having a really good year, and then last year, he was a big contributor on our team.
“I think, from Day 1, Miro looked great out there. I hope he keeps it up, but I don’t look at it as an all-or-nothing kinda thing.”
