NHL Player Safety has handed Capitals forward Andrew Cristall a $2,250.86 fine, the maximum allowed under the CBA, after a preseason cross-check on Flyers defenseman Hunter Mcdonald.
The play came at 7:07 of the second period in Washington’s game against Philadelphia. Cristall lifted his stick high and cross-checked Mcdonald in the face, a response to Mcdonald’s earlier hit on Washington’s Ryan Leonard along the boards while Leonard was off balance.
Cristall was assessed a five-minute major and a ten-minute game misconduct on the spot.
Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division, the Penguins are dealing with a cluster of injury updates as players try to lock down roster spots. Pittsburgh said forwards Ville Koivunen, Justin Brazeau, and Benjamin Kindel are all day-to-day, and Carter Sanderson will be in the lineup for tonight’s preseason game because Koivunen is out.
Brazeau and Kindel also missed training camp practice on Wednesday. Koivunen, who signed an eight-year extension worth $32MM this offseason, was hit in the face by a puck during an intrasquad scrimmage.
Brazeau and Kindel were hurt in Pittsburgh’s last preseason game. Brazeau kept playing after taking a trip into the boards, while Kindel left early with a lower-body injury, according to the team. Kindel had been skating on a line with Andrei Kuzmenko and Bryan Rust in the first period, and the trio combined for two shots in six shifts before he exited.
Sanderson, 19, was a sixth-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2025. The Lincoln, Nebraska native put up 34 points last season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL.
In Other News...
Flyers Have A Bigger Concern Than Their Ugly Preseason Opener
The preseason is supposed to be about getting a first look at new ideas and fresh faces, but the Flyers opener in Washington quickly shifted from evaluation to damage control. Philadelphia fell 5-2 to the Capitals, an ugly result on its own, yet the more immediate concern came when forward Denver Barkey was hurt early in the second period and did not return.
Rick Tocchet didnt have an update on Barkey after the game, which leaves the Flyers waiting on a situation that matters more than anything that happened on the scoreboard. Preseason losses are easy to shrug off in September, but injuries to young players trying to make impressions can linger far longer than one rough night. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Already Have An Early Depth Concern To Watch
One of the Flyers early preseason storylines took an unwelcome turn when Denver Barkey went down with a lower-body injury against the Capitals on Friday night and did not return. Philadelphia announced the injury during the game, leaving an already young camp roster a little thinner in the kind of spot where depth is supposed to be getting sorted out, not tested.
The sequence came after a hit along the boards from Washington defenseman Martin Fehervary, and now the focus shifts to what Rick Tocchet has to say once the game is over. For a Flyers team trying to evaluate its bottom-six options and keep its prospects moving in the right direction, any injury this early is the sort of development it will want to monitor closely. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Prospect Denver Barkey Suddenly Faces A Worrying Setback
Denver Barkeys preseason night against the Capitals ended early after the young Flyers forward left with a lower-body injury and did not return. For a player trying to keep building momentum while splitting time between Philadelphia and the AHL affiliate, any health issue in September can be the kind of setback that gets attention fast, especially when hes looking to stay in the mix as the season approaches.
The Flyers had to wait until the third period to make clear Barkey would not be back in the game, leaving his status as the main concern from an otherwise routine preseason tune-up. Philadelphia has been counting on Barkey to keep developing with the organization if health allows, so the focus now shifts to how serious this latest issue turns out to be and whether it interrupts his push to stick around. [Read more 🡒]