It’s just July 13 and we’re a long way from any meaningful hockey games. But at Kettler Iceplex on Wednesday afternoon most of the Capitals top prospects got a jump start on 2011-12 with a competitive scrimmage. Whether these players will be in Washington next season, AHL Hershey, ECHL South Carolina or with their college or Canadian junior teams, this is a chance to impress the front office and NHL coaching staff and lay the foundation for future years.
Pretty entertaining contest. The Red team controlled play for most of the afternoon and went on to a 4-2 victory. There were goals from forwards Caleb Herbert, Stanislav Galiev, Travis Boyd and Aaron Schmit. White team goalie Philipp Grubauer actually made some fine saves midway through the second period to keep the game close – even if he did allow two goals. Not bad for a kid who last played a competitive game in February thanks to developing mononucleosis during the junior season at Kinston. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau didn’t want to go too far with any comparisons, but said Grubauer’s ability to smother the puck in traffic reminded him of Michal Neuvirth.
“I think the red team was all over us for a while. I think [Grubauer] was part of the reason the score wasn’t worse than it was,” said defenseman Patrick Wey, who played with Grubauer on the white team. “He looked really good.”
Some injury news: Defenseman Wade Epp took a hard fall into the boards in the second period. Appeared he hurt his left arm or shoulder. Meanwhile, forward Taylor Stefishen was clipped driving into the offensive zone and left the scrimmage during the second period. Saw him walking out of Kettler with his right knee in a brace. Both players will be re-evaluated in the morning, according to a team spokesman.
There’s another scrimmage at 9 a.m. on Thursday – short turnaround – and a final one on Saturday morning. Some nice physical battles between Cody Eakin and Mattias Sjogren – the two players with the best chance from this camp of making the opening-day NHL roster with Washington. Eakin said that seven of the first eight faceoffs between the two centers ended up on Sjogren’s backhand and Eakin’s forehand – a distinct advantage for the Swede – and it happened so many times in a row during the first period that the two started cracking up in the circle.
“I think Mattias is a little bit older, he’s stronger,” Eakin said. “And he’s a big guy so I kind of had to adjust my game a little bit in the zone and in the faceoff circles. It took a little bit to adjust, but after a while it was back and forth.”
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