Washington is missing their top center tonight against Seattle, as Pierre-Luc Dubois won’t play due to illness, according to the team. Also, defenseman Matt Roy skated today, Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network shared, although he’s still day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
The 28-year-old Dubois has been off to a nice start with four points in as many games. His 17:04 of ice-time is third among forwards, only behind Tom Wilson and Alex Tuch. A durable player who has hit the 82-game mark four times in his career so far, the pivot was limited to 29 appearances due to abdominal surgery last season. In his place Ilya Protas has moved up to 1C. It’ll be a memorable night for the 20-year-old, just eight games into his NHL career, centering his brother Aliaksei as well as Alex Ovechkin.
As for Roy, the 31-year-old minute-eater left late in the second period back on October 2 against Tampa Bay. Missing the shutdown man who always throws the body and blocks shots reliably, off-season addition Vincent Desharnais has received a steady dosage of over 21 minutes in their last two games from the second pairing. Veteran depth defender Dylan McIlrath, a three-time Calder Cup Champion, lines up alongside dynamic youngster Cole Hutson.
Dubois had been thought of as a game-time decision, so it’s likely tonight is his only absence. He and Roy will have the chance to return for the Caps’ back-to-back which starts Tuesday in Carolina, before returning home the following night to host Montreal.
Elsewhere across the league:
Flyers goaltender Joseph Woll gets the nod against the defending champion Hurricanes tonight. It has been a miserable October in Philadelphia so far, 0-4-2 and only ahead of Calgary in league standings, who has yet to earn a point in five games. Having played last night, losing 5-1, it’s not any shock they’ve called his name, although the results of tonight’s game will be telling. The Flyers’ lackluster start has been in good part tied to Dan Vladar’s performance, unable to steal a game for the struggling Flyers yet, surrendering 15 goals in three games. To be fair, the group is dead last in the league with just seven goals scored, only two coming while the 29-year-old Czech was in the crease. Woll has performed much better early into his Philadelphia tenure with a .927 SV%, making 37 and 41 saves in strong efforts which ended in overtime losses. It’s still early, but if such continues to be the case, it’ll become a real story as the Flyers committed to Vladar with a five-year extension in July worth $5.5MM per.
Devils forward Evan Rodrigues has been fined $5,000, the maximum amount, for his actions in yesterday’s game against Vancouver. Although the league’s Department of Player Safety categorized the incident as “high-sticking”, it was outside of play, with a spearing motion of sorts. Lightly shoved by Marco Rossi as the two lined up for a face-off, Rodrigues retaliated by forcing his stick blade into Rossi’s chest, just below his neck. Earning a double-minor penalty, thankfully Rossi was not seriously injured. A reliable defensive forward who has never sat for more than 38 penalty minutes in a year, Rodrigues has never been suspended. His only other disciplinary actions came five years ago as a Penguin, as he was fined $2,500 for a dangerous trip against former Senator Zach Sanford.