Facing the Winnipeg Jets with your number two goalie starting and an emergency backup behind him isn’t exactly the ideal scenario, but that’s what the Washington Capitals face tonight.
Hey, things happen during an 82-game season.
Braden Holtby’s out with an upper-body injury, giving way to wonderfully named Pheonix Copley. (Do you think Pheonix Copley knows Micheal Ferland? They should be best friends, right?)
Copley isn’t just facing the high-powered Jets unexpectedly. He’s also dealing with back-to-back starts, so this could be a real challenge.
The Washington Post’s Isabelle Kurshudyan reports that Holtby’s upper-body injury isn’t believed to be serious, so perhaps Capitals fans can enjoy some of the novelty aspects of this situation?
Of course, the novelty aspects that stand out the most is the guy who was pressed into backup duty out of the blue. That fellow is 6-foot-7 Gavin McHale, 31, who serves as the goalie coach for the University of Manitoba women’s team.
Emergency backup goalie is ready to go. pic.twitter.com/4mjlKjOc6a
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) November 15, 2018
PHT’s Scott Billeck notes that McHale has been thrust into this sort of role before, so the giant netminder is at least collecting some lightly-worn NHL sweaters and strange memories to share at cocktail parties.
Gavin McHale last dressed for an NHL team on Feb. 16. He suited up for the final 20 minutes for the Colorado Avalanche, serving as the backup to Semyon Varlamov after Jonathan Bernier got injured. #ALLCAPS #NHLJets
— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) November 15, 2018
Not having Holtby ranks as “not fun,” but the rest of this could be entertaining. Also: NBC Sports Washington’s J.J. Regan notes that it’s possible that highly touted goalie prospect Ilya Samsonov could end up being called up depending upon how this works out over the next few days, so that could be fun, too.
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.