Clay Stevenson will make his NHL debut on Thursday in Pittsburgh. (Sammi Silber - The Hockey News) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/96334eb8-19d5-4826-9387-4a2678c83b90.jpeg] Clay Stevenson will make his NHL debut on Thursday in Pittsburgh. (Sammi Silber - The Hockey News) As the Washington Capitals wrap up their regular season on Thursday against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, they'll see an NHL debut between the pipes. Clay Stevenson will get the start in the Capitals' regular season finale, marking his first career NHL game after a long road featuring time in the NCAA with Dartmouth, the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays and finally, the AHL with the Hershey Bears, where he won the Calder Cup. "It's the dream since you were a young kid. It's kind of been a longer road for me, not exactly straightforward, but couldn't be happier to do it with this group, for sure," Stevenson said. There will be additional lineup changes for the Capitals as they work things out in the locker room, per Spencer Carbery, though captain Alex Ovechkin will forgo extra rest ahead of the postseason to match up again with Sidney Crosby. Carbery also shared the latest on injured players Aliaksei Protas and Logan Thompson as both recover from respective lower and upper-body injuries. Protas has been with the group and is "progressing," but hasn't taken the ice yet. Thompson has been skating and incorporating back into the group as he works toward getting back to full strength. Charlie Lindgren will back up Stevenson with Thompson still ailing. Getting both back will be vital for the group going into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/latest-news/capitals-will-face-canadiens-in-first-round-of-2025-stanley-cup-playoffs-what-to-know], where Washington will face the Montreal Canadiens [http://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] in the opening round of the postseason. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
