The Washington Capitals’ preseason got off to a great start, and a lot of thanks goes to two roster hopefuls.
Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre set the tone with respective four and three-point outings as the Capitals scored early and often en route to a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
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After going down 1-0 early after a goal from Morgan Geekie, Milano got on the board, picking up a feed from Lapierre before turning and lifting a backhander past Michael DiPietro to even things up.
Minutes later, Milano forced a turnover to get the puck to Anthony Beauvillier, who found Lapierre for a quick shot and goal from the slot.
Milano wasn’t done there, though, as he got behind the defense, picked up a cross-ice feed from Ethen Frank showed off his quick hands and shot with a bardown semi-breakaway goal to make it 3-1.
Washington finished out the first with a goal courtesy of Bogdan Trineyev, who redirected home a feed from Ivan Miroshnichenko, who was tenacious on pucks and helped generate quite a few solid chances.
In the second, after Boston was able to pull to 4-2 on a goal from Patrick Brown, Milano broke the puck out to Lapierre, who led a 3-on-1 rush and made a picture-perfect pass to a streaking Ryan Chesley for a lay-up and his first NHL preseason goal to restore the three-goal lead.
From there, Washington locked things down defensively, with Vincent Iorio and company staying physical and helping shut down the Bruins’ offense. Garin Bjorklund, who took over for Logan Thompson halfway through the second, stole the show in net, stopping
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The Capitals will have off on Monday as they make some roster cuts before resuming practice on Tuesday.