Caps Host Canes at Cap One

September 28 vs. Carolina Hurricanes at Capital One Arena
Time:7:00 p.m.
TV:NBCSW
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7
The Capitals are down to the final weekend of 2018 training camp and they have two more preseason games on the docket, both on home ice. The first of those is Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. It's a rematch of an exhibition tilt played a week ago in Raleigh, one in which the Canes prevailed by a 5-1 count.

In its most recent preseason game on Tuesday night in St. Louis, the Caps turned in their best overall performance to date, and it resulted in their first victory. Goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped all 42 shots sent his way, shutting out his former team in a 4-0 Washington victory over the Blues.
Preseason results - good or bad - aren't worth much, but this was a satisfying victory, given that the Caps dressed a lineup that was dotted with young players while St. Louis iced a group that is likely to be close to its opening night lineup. Both the Caps and the Blues have nine players on their respective rosters making $5 million or more against the salary cap this season, the most of any of the League's 31 teams. For Tuesday's game, the Blues had all nine of their $5 million men in the lineup while Washington dressed only four of its nine players of that ilk.
But the victory came at a price, too. At game's end, there was a line of Caps players in need of medical attention.

Caps defenseman Michal Kempny absorbed a questionable high hit from Blues blueliner Robert Bortuzzo early in the third period, taking an elbow to the head/jaw area. Kempny was woozy when he went off, and he did not return. On Thursday, the NHL Department of Player Safety suspended Bortuzzo for the remainder of the preseason and one regular season game.
Center Travis Boyd was treated for a lower body injury that he suffered while blocking a shot in the third period, and he is listed as week-to-week. Other players' postgame ailments weren't as serious; those skaters were all on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Thursday when the Caps continued training camp after taking Wednesday off.
"Travis is going to be week-to-week, so it looks like he won't be ready for the start of the season," says Caps coach Todd Reirden.
Boyd was competing for the fourth-line center post left vacant with Jay Beagle's offseason departure, so if he were to be placed on injured reserve ahead of opening night, it could open up a roster berth - if even temporarily - for another player.
"How that all plays out is going to be a little more of a management decision," says Reirden. "But from our standpoint, we would definitely be looking to add another player to our mix."
Kempny did not practice on Thursday and is not slated to play on Friday against Carolina.
"He is day-to-day and we will continue to evaluate him and see how he is doing," says Reirden of Kempny. "I'm still going to get an update later today on how he is exactly doing as well, but upper body for him."

Although Wednesday was an off day, the Caps did shave their camp roster by a dozen players with cuts on both Wednesday and Thursday, trimming it down to 30 players (19 forwards, nine defensemen and two goaltenders), a figure that includes Boyd and Kempny. These last two preseason games will help determine the rest of Washington's cuts; the Caps must be down to a maximum of 23 players by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
"Some guys have been given an opportunity," says Reirden, "and I had spoken prior to our last game about players maybe not taking advantage of opportunities as much as maybe they should have, and I really like the response from a number of our players and how they played in St. Louis. So our lineup adjustments have been made accordingly.
"Some guys, we had a certain number of games set out for them to participate in that gives them the best chance to play on the third [of Oct.] and be at full strength and at the top level of their conditioning and energy and all that sort of stuff. We came into camp with a certain plan for guys and how many games they were going to play, and we continue to address it every day. But it's really a player-by-player situation, how I've always dealt with players. It's an individual situation that gives them the best chance to succeed."

One of those players who did take advantage of his Tuesday night opportunity in St. Louis was rookie defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, the team's second-round pick (57th overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft. The 21-year-old Siegenthaler logged 19:19 against the Blues, stepping up and assuming more minutes after Kempny went down in the third.
Reirden sang Siegenthaler's praises after Tuesday's game against the Blues, and reiterated that praise after Thursday's practice. When the Caps take the ice against Carolina on Friday, Siegenthaler is slated to skate in Kempny's usual spot, on the left side of a tandem with John Carlson.