Breaking: Capitals emergency goalie pressed into action

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby announced late today that he’s out day to day with an upper body injury and will miss tonight’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. No big deal, right? Backup Pheonix Copley will take the reigns and the Caps can call up someone from AHL Hersey, right? Not so fast. With the Caps being on the road in Winnipeg and without anyone available to them on such short notice, the team has been forced to sign Gavin McHale, the goaltending coach for the University of Manitoba women’s hockey team, to be its emergency goaltender for the night.

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Caps insider Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post would go on to identify the emergency goalie as McHale in an article published shortly after.

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Of course, this development gives us a flashback to last season when the Chicago Blackhawks were forced to dress and play local area accountant Scott Foster into action… against these same Winnipeg Jets. Foster was PERFECT for the Blackhawks, turning aside seven shots including a Grade A scoring chance from sniper Patrik Laine, and preserving victory for the Blackhawks. 

While something has to still happen to Copley for McHale to get his shot in Winnipeg, you can bet that hockey fans everywhere will be cheering for him should he get his shot. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: McHale is taking warmups! Let's go, Gavin!