The Washington Capitals will square off with the Boston Bruins in their final preseason game on Saturday evening. Washington is slated to ice a predictable dress rehearsal lineup outside one skater.
Andrew Cristall, the team’s 19-year-old prospect, has earned a last chance to impress head coach Spencer Carbery and stick around for the regular season. Cristall will likely play on the left wing of the team’s third line with Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas.
The roster for our final preseason game today at @CapitalOneArena #CapsBruins | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/uSBkTQv6RU
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 5, 2024
Outside of Cristall, Carbery is sticking with the forward lines and defense pairings that he has used throughout camp and in several preseason games.
After the Capitals waived Ethan Bear and Mike Sgarbossa on Friday, they were left with 26 healthy players fighting for 23 roster spots. Cristall joins names like Ivan Miroshnichenko, Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath, and Alex Alexeyev as the skaters still jockeying for position in that race with just two days left before the roster submission deadline.
Cristall will play against Boston over Miroshnichenko, Vrana, and Sonny Milano. Milano took the line-rush reps with the third line at practice on Friday but is not included on Saturday’s roster. Carbery challenged Milano to ramp up his preseason performance, but the 28-year-old winger wasn’t effective in his last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, leaving room for Cristall’s involvement.
For comparison’s sake, Cristall has a point in all three of his preseason games, which leaves him tied for the team lead in scoring. Carbery has been complimentary of the young forward’s play and recently spoke about how Cristall is definitely in the running to play NHL games this season.
“[We’re considering it], for sure, because of the camp he’s had,” Carbery said Wednesday. “He’s earned the opportunity to continue to be a part of the team and continue to push to try to make the team. That’s why he’s here still. He’s had a great camp. He’s put himself in the spot that maybe, if you were looking before camp started, probably didn’t have him slotted to potentially make the team, thought he’d go back to Kelowna and have another phenomenal year. But he’s done a good job thus far through camp and earned an opportunity to try to make the team.”
Due to the NHL-CHL transfer agreement, Cristall has two options for the 2024-25 campaign: stay in the NHL with the Capitals or return to the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets. If he stays in the NHL, he can play nine games for Washington before the clock starts on his entry-level contract.
The Bruins also released their roster for the game on Saturday morning. Boston is playing some of their regulars like Brad Marchand, Morgan Geekie, and Johnny Beecher but most of their roster will be made up of depth skaters.
Wrapping up the preseason slate. pic.twitter.com/kiLvwGLMZe
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 5, 2024
Puck drop for Washington’s preseason finale is scheduled for 5 pm inside Capital One Arena. You can catch the game on both Monumental Sports Network and NHL Network.
