The Washington Capitals lost defensemen Martin Fehervary early in last Friday night’s matchup with the New York Islanders due to an upper-body injury. After the game, head coach Spencer Carbery surmised that the team would be without the 24-year-old Slovak rearguard for the “foreseeable future.”
Fehervary did miss the Capitals’ game against the Nashville Predators on Saturday but it appears that Carbery’s estimate was off target.
Fehervary took the ice for practice on Monday and participated fully ahead of the Capitals’ game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
Fehervary was initially taken out of action in the game against New York after being tripped by Anders Lee and crashing hard into the end boards. He skated just 2:18 of ice time in the contest before heading back to the locker room and not returning.
#ALLCAPS Fehervary was tripped. Also this shows the shot that hurt Lindgren pic.twitter.com/7lrnABNDb7
— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) December 30, 2023
Saturday night’s matchup with the Predators saw recently signed defender Ethan Bear jump into the team’s lineup in Fehervary’s vacated spot. Bear skated on the right side of the second defense pair with Trevor van Riemsdyk. TVR moved over to his off-hand side to better accommodate the right-handed Bear.
Monday’s practice saw Fehervary back with regular partner John Carlson on the top pairing. His return has not forced TVR out of the lineup though as previously expected. Instead, Nick Jensen skated on an extra pair with Alex Alexeyev.
Fehervary has played in 28 games this season and recorded five points (1g, 4a). He is skating on average the fifth-most minutes (18:30) on the team among defenders. A good 1:57 chunk of that comes on the Capitals’ penalty-killing unit.
The good news about Fehervary comes after Carbery also revealed that the Capitals received good news on goaltender Charlie Lindgren’s injury from the same night. “Good news on Chucky this morning,” Carbery stated Saturday evening. “Not to the point where he can dress and play but better than expected I would say.”
Lindgren did not dress against Nashville as Hunter Shepard was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears and made a spot start. Lindgren was also not present for Monday’s skate and Shepard has remained with the big club.
Shepard made 34 stops on 36 shots in the Capitals’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Predators.
Update (12:40 pm): Carbery said in his post-skate media availability that he is unsure if Fehervary will be able to play against the Penguins.
No final call on if Martin Fehervary plays tomorrow, per Spencer Carbery. Not expecting Charlie Lindgren to play in back-to-back.
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) January 1, 2024
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
