Former Washington Capitals defenseman Jakub Jerabek was put on waivers on October 30. Today he cleared waivers and has been assigned to the St. Louis Blues AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage.
The Capitals and the Blues met in St. Louis on Tuesday night for the first of two preseason meetings, with the Capitals ultimately winning with a 4-0 shutout.
It was an intense game, with plenty of heavy hitting, Capitals goals, and feisty fisticuffs. I had a front row seat to the action on the ice and in the penalty box.
Here are some of the highlights that didn’t make it onto the Instagram story during the game.
During Tuesday’s preseason game against the St. Louis Blues, Michal Kempny took a hit to the head from Robert Bortuzzo and suffered an upper-body injury.
Wednesday morning, the league had a second look at Bortuzzo’s hit and determined he’ll have a hearing Thursday over the incident with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
On Tuesday, the Capitals will play the Blues for their fifth game of the preseason as both teams prepare their lineups for the start of the regular season.
The big news is on the blue line, where John Carlson will make his return from a lower-body injury and play his first game of the preseason. Carlson, who signed an eight-year extension with the Capitals over the offseason, is slated to reunite with partner Michal Kempny on the first defensive pairing, as the two defensemen see their first action since helping the Capitals win the Stanley Cup.
Jonas Siegenthaler and Madison Bowey will play on the third pair, with Bowey looking to impress and lock up his spot as the seventh defenseman.
Devante Smith-Pelly will once again be held out of tonight’s game.
Coming into Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the St. Louis Blues controlled their own destiny. Despite being losers of three straight (including a 4-2 defeat to Washington on Monday), the Blues just needed to win their final three games of the regular season against the Chicago Blackhawks (2) and the Colorado Avalanche (1) to get into the playoffs.
Instead, they choked.
The Caps playoff seed has been set and they are the Metropolitan Division winners, but they still have a couple games left in this year’s campaign. They headed to St. Louis for their last road fixture of the regular season and came away with a 4-2 victory.
Said victory allowed the Colorado Avalanche to hold onto the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference and put the flailing Blues further into desperation mode.
The Blues out-shot the Caps 36 to 34 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 62 to 48.
The Caps had little to fight for on Monday night in St Louis. They already had the division and home ice locked up with 100 standings points and counting, and the team was weary from having played in Pittsburgh just last night, but I guess playing spoiler for the Blues proved to be sufficient motivation.
Vladimir Tarasenko owned the lone goal of the first period, but the Caps came back furious in the second – first with Backstrom’s 20th, then a solo effort from Chiasson, then a highlight-reel goal from Andre Burakovsky. Patrik Berglund kept it close with a sharp-angle deflection to make it 3-2 heading into the third. Ovi got the empty netter in the third.
Caps beat Blues 4-2.
Happy home stretch! We’ve reached the final week of the regular season and the Capitals’ final road game (until the ‘loffs, of course). Today, the good boys have traveled to St. Louis to face off against the Blues. Kinda fitting since it is a gross Monday and a lot of us have the Monday blues.
While the Capitals have already clinched both a ‘loffs spot and the Metro Division title, it might seem like they can just chill out now…but there is one final thing that needs to be done. The Caps just need to start setting Alex Ovechkin up with easy shots so he can reach 50 goals. He is five away with three games remaining.
As for the Blues, they are still fighting for a playoff spot and they are neck-and-neck with the Colorado Avalanche. What’s not going to be very helpful for them? Their forward Scottie Upshall is out indefinitely with not just any sort of injury…but a lacerated kidney. He has 19 points in his 63 games with the Blues. Upshall is also the third player on the team in 13 games that the Blues have lost for the year. Not a great spot to be in for the final push into the playoffs.
This is your final late night regular season game, so we expect you to stick it out with us. The puck will drop a tad after 8PM on NBCSNWA and Pete will recap it up with ya.
The Washington Capitals hadn’t played a game since January 2, so I’m baffled why they looked exhausted against the St. Louis Blues at home on Sunday afternoon. But even an overwhelmed Caps team still have Ovi on it.
Brett Connolly gave the Caps the lead in the first period with a deflection of Alex Ovechkin’s shot, but the Blues scored twice in the second – once on the power play from Vladimir Tarasenko and another at evens from Steen.
The Caps continued to struggle in the third, but a trip by Jay Bouwmeester led directly to Alex Ovechkin’s 27th goal of the season – an Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot™. That restored the tie, which Lars Eller promptly broke with an excellent goal on transition. A tricky deflection through traffic and credited to Carl Gunnarsson caught Holtby unaware to tie it again with four minutes left. Regulation ended like that. In overtime, Oshie gave Nicklas Backstrom a monster stretch pass, and Backy didn’t squander it.
Caps beat Blues 4-3 in overtime!
It’s been five long days since the Caps last suited up for NHL action. This afternoon, a refreshed Washington squad faces the St. Louis Blues, who are battling for the Central division lead, kinda sorta. This game will be number 42 in the books, so we’re officially in the back half now.
3 PM on NBCSWA. I’m Peter, and I’ll be recapping the stuff and things for you.
