Ryan Leonard will likely be a healthy scratch for the Washington Capitals in Game 2 of their second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Per RMNB’s Katie Adler, Leonard stuck around for extra work with the other likely scratches after the team’s morning skate. Meanwhile, winger Taylor Raddysh departed the ice early with the rest of the players who are expected to dress in Thursday night’s game, indicating he’ll jump back into the lineup in place of Leonard.
Despite the clear change in preparation, head coach Spencer Carbery refused to confirm any changes during his pregame media availability. “We’ll find out in warmup,” he said. “Won’t talk lineup, but yeah, we’ll see what the lineup looks like tonight.”
Leonard played in 15 straight games for the Capitals, dating back to his NHL debut on April 1 against the Boston Bruins during the regular season. The 20-year-old forward has spent the vast majority of his ice time playing on the team’s third line with Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane.
In the first six playoff games of his NHL career, Leonard recorded one assist, averaging the least time on ice per game (10:21) on the Capitals. Despite firing 11 shots on goal, tied for the fourth most on the team, he has not yet scored his first career postseason goal.
The 2023 first-round pick had likely his best chance to open his scoring account with 5:40 remaining in the third period of Game 1 against Carolina. With the game tied 1-1, Leonard was sprung on a breakaway but lost control of the puck before getting a shot off on goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Raddysh played 32:04 of five-on-five ice time on the Capitals’ fourth line with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime during the first round against the Montreal Canadiens. The Caps controlled play during their shifts, seeing 61 percent of the expected goals, 62.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 64.3 percent of the high-danger chances. A returning Aliaksei Protas replaced Raddysh for Game 5.
The 27-year-old Raddysh testified as a witness on Wednesday and Friday last week in the sexual assault trial of five of his former Hockey Canada teammates. He appeared in court virtually from MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
Raddysh’s inclusion in the lineup for Game 2 hints that Protas may be moving back up into the top-9 forward group, which he did late in Game 1, skating on the team’s top line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. Protas scored the Capitals’ lone goal in their 2-1 overtime loss to start the series.
Logan Thompson was again the first goaltender off the ice at the skate, so he’ll start his seventh straight game in the playoffs. Thompson stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced in the Game 1 loss. Per MoneyPuck, he saved 2.18 more goals than expected.
Puck drop for Game 2 at Capital One Arena is set for 7:00 pm.
