SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Six-Pack -The Caps and the Boston Bruins renew acquaintance on Sunday afternoon in D.C. in the first of six preseason games for the Caps, and the first of three to be played at Capital One Arena. Washington will face three different teams - Boston, New Jersey and Philadelphia - once at home and once on the road before it opens the regular season against the New York Rangers here on Oct. 13.

Sunday's preseason tilt between the Caps and Bruins comes a little over four months after Boston eliminated Washington from the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, but the lineups for Sunday's game will look drastically different from those on the night of May 23 when the Bruins eliminated the Capitals.
First Air Of Autumn -Given that no team had any preseason games ahead of last season's shortened schedule, a fair amount of young players across the NHL will be seeing their first ever preseason action at this level this autumn. The Caps are expected to have two such players in their lineup today, center Hendrix Lapierre and defenseman Martin Has.
"I always find it's best to try and relax a little bit and not get too worked up about the moment," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette, of players making their preseason NHL debuts. "If you can stay even keeled a little bit more, you've got a better chance probably. Of course, you want to play with energy and you want to play with passion and all that, but you need to think the game through, too. We've got a lot of guys that are young that are going to be in the lineup early."
Lapierre was Washington's first-round choice (22nd overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft and Has was the team's fifth-round pick (153rd overall) in the 2019 Draft.
We asked a few of Washington's NHL vets what they would tell a young player who was getting ready to play in his first-ever NHL preseason game.
"I remember being very extremely excited, looking around the arena," says Caps center Lars Eller. "Just take try to take it all in, but it's still a little bit of a blur afterwards. But I would say, whatever they do, just play hard. Try to really play hard, but relax. Try to get a hit on your first shift so you're in the game you're not on the outside waiting for something to happen. Try to make things happen and don't worry about making mistakes, because we're all going to make them. The sooner they get over those first steps, the sooner they feel comfortable so that's my advice."
Even veterans who have suited up for hundreds of NHL games can have some nerves and some anxiety ahead of games at any time of year at this level.

"I still get anxious at every camp I come into - even this year - coming into every game," says Caps center Nic Dowd. "You know you want to play well and perform well and it's obviously easier as you come in more and more, especially in the same organization with many of the same guys, same coaching staff and stuff like that.
"I would just tell those guys go out there and play as hard as possibly can, be physical, be hard to play against, do the things that make you a good player and don't shy away from taking chances and making good plays. In the end, I think it's a player's job to be noticed, and it's sometimes challenging with the amount of guys we have here. You've got to remember a lot of these kids that are coming in and playing their first games are the top line kids from every team they've ever played on, so it's not hard for them to go and showcase themselves to scouts and pro scouts and things like that when you're playing the season. But now you've got kids that might be playing on third or fourth line, and that makes it a little different, right? They're not on the powerplay, they're not on the penalty kill, they're not taking face-offs or they're not on [the ice] at the end of the game.
"So take advantage of the opportunity that you get playing these games. One thing I was told early in my career was, 'Don't let the minutes that you're not playing affect the ones that you are playing,' and I think that holds true throughout the whole season but especially in these games. Don't let anything set you back. Just remember why you're here, and continue to try and play well every single time you step on the ice."
In The Nets - Washington will dress goaltenders Vitek Vanecek and Phoenix Copley for this afternoon's game while Boston is bringing goalies Callum Booth, Troy Grosenick and Jeremy Swayman to D.C. for the exhibition opener.
Early in the preseason, teams tend to split the game up and use two goaltenders. The idea is to get all of the organization's netminders ready to roll, and the Caps have 18 periods worth of exhibition hockey with which to achieve that goal.

"I think we've got good depth on goaltending, so we want to take a look at a couple of guys that didn't get an opportunity to play for us last year and let them go in and see what they can do," says Laviolette. "But we do have to get ready for the season. Six games sounds like a lot, but when you're just talking about your two [NHL] goalies, now you're down to three [games each]. And then from there, if you're trying to get looks at other people, that three then goes to two and a half, two and a quarter, or two games. We've got to make sure that our guys are ready, so I think there is a balance that has to happen there."
All Lined Up - Here is how we believe the Capitals might line up, and here also is the Bruins' roster for Sunday's exhibition opener for both sides:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
73-Sheary, 20-Eller, 40-Pilon
10-Sprong, 24-McMichael, 43-Wilson
91-Snively, 29-Lapierre, 64-Pinho
47-Malenstyn, 67-Sutter, 49-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 2-Schultz
9-Orlov, 61-Has
57-van Riemsdyk, 25-McIlrath
Goaltenders
41-Vanecek
1-Copley
BOSTON
Forwards
61-Samuel Asselin
81-Anton Blidh
74-Jake DeBrusk
47-Matt Filipe
29-Steven Fogarty
38-Jesper Froden
91-Curtis Hall
56-Erik Haula
83-Karson Kuhlman
94-Jakub Lauko
68-Fabian Lysell
62-Oskar Steen
14-Chris Wagner
Defensemen
54-Jack Ahcan
75-Connor Clifton
66-Tyler Lewington
79-Brady Lyle
27-John Moore
58-Urho Vaakanainen
67-Jakub Zboril
Goaltenders

70-Callum Booth
31-Troy Grosenick
1-Jeremy Swayman