Caps Take on Flyers in Philly
Washington plays the first of three straight road exhibition games on Saturday night
The Caps hit the halfway mark of the exhibition season on Saturday night in Philadelphia when they take on the Flyers in their first road preseason contest. The game is the first of three straight road games for the Caps, who will conclude their six-game exhibition slate on Friday night on home ice against Philly.
Washington is still seeking its first victory of the preseason, although wins and losses matter less than getting veteran players ready for the Oct. 13 season opener against the New York Rangers and getting a good read and evaluation on the younger players in the system.
Nearing the halfway point of training camp as well, the Capitals have made a few roster cuts so far, and they announced on Friday that defenseman Vincent Iorio has been returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League. Iorio was Washington's first choice (second round, 55th overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft, and he made his NHL preseason debut on Wednesday night in a 5-4 loss to New Jersey.
Iorio logged 14:51 in that game against the Devils (including 1:11 in shorthanded ice time), recording two hits and a blocked shot.
"It was fantastic," said Iorio in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's game. "Obviously you have a little bit of nerves going in, but I always think it's a good thing to have a little bit of nerves. The pace was definitely a lot faster and I think it was something I had to adjust to. But I thought the team did well and the older guys helped me along the way. I'm very happy that I played the game, and I think it's only going to be up from here."
Iorio was only able to play in 22 games last season with Brandon; the team's full schedule consisted of only 24 games as opposed to the typical full-season slate of 68 contests. In his three seasons with the Wheat Kings, he has yet to experience postseason play. The WHL has not had any playoffs in the last two seasons.
The right-handed blueliner turns 19 in November, and he will be eligible to turn pro at this time next season, should he prove worthy of the jump. His training camp experience here with the Caps should be valuable as he prepares for a larger role over what will hopefully be a longer season with the Wheat Kings.
"It's been fantastic," says Iorio. "You learn a lot from the people who are here. They're professionals on and off the ice and you just soak everything in like a sponge. I'm going to take a lot of the advice that I've been given and implement it into my game and I'm really going to use it in the future. I'm really looking forward to it."
The Hockey News recently published a piece entitled
"The Top 100 Players to Watch in Major Junior,"
and Iorio is at No. 35 on that list.
With Iorio's departure, the Caps' camp roster is down to 48 players (28 forwards, 15 defensemen and five goaltenders. On Saturday night in Philadelphia, four players are expected to skate for the first time this preseason for Washington: forwards Carl Hagelin, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway and defenseman Toby Geisser.
Hagelin, Dowd and Hathaway played in all 56 of Washington's games last season and the trio skated together on the same line all season, an ultra-rarity in the modern NHL. The fact that they're the last of the team's healthy forward group to see preseason action is a good indication of the confidence the coaching staff has in them, their game, their work ethic and their ability to be ready for the team's October 13 season opener against the New York Rangers.
"I'm really excited," says Dowd of the upcoming season. "I think what makes our line so successful is that we were all on the same page, day in and day out. We understand each other and all three of us have tried to be and have been really consistent in our game plan going into games.
"We don't mess around with the puck a lot in our defensive end; we get the puck out and we have Hags and Hath, who are guys that can skate on to pucks. And Hath being a really physical guy puts defensemen in a tough situation, and Hags gets to a lot of pucks first. I think one thing we're probably going to look to build on this year is what we do when we do get in the offensive zone.
"Now that we have played so many games together, we have really started figuring each other out on where we should be before you actually are forced to make a play. We were always good defensively, and we took a lot of [defensive] zone draws and we were successful with that and getting out of our zone, but I think the biggest thing will be, you know, creating a little bit more, and making ourselves feel good about ourselves in the [offensive] zone."
Ilya Samsonov will be in goal for the Caps against Philly, and he is expected to play the entire game. Samsonov got his first taste of action in a relief role on Wednesday, coming off the bench to take over for Zach Fucale in the third period of Wednesday's loss to the Devils.
Like the Caps, the Flyers own a 0-1-1 preseason mark and are seeking their first victory of the exhibition season. Philly starts a stretch of three games in four nights with Saturday's game; the Flyers have a set of back-to-backs looming when they host Boston on Monday and take to the road to face the Islanders in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday.
Martin Jones is expected to start in goal and go the distance on Saturday against Washington.
