Story from WashingtonCaps.com
100 Mile House Wranglers alum Clay Stevenson (2016-17) made his NHL debut tonight with the Washington Capitals.
Stevenson stopped 33 of 38 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mike Vogel from NHL.com reported that he was excellent from start to finish on a night when Pittsburgh’s best players were buzzing, and the Caps were playing shorthanded and a bit out of sync.
“I guess that shows you what the NHL is, right?” says Stevenson in the aftermath of a strong debut on Capitals.com. “I thought I showed what I’m capable of out there. It’s a special night, a lot of nerves, but I thought I played pretty freely out there and gave myself the best opportunity to make the saves on the net.
“They were executing on a lot of plays tonight, as they should; look who’s on the other side of that line there,” he continued. “I don’t think there’s anything to really hang my head about in that game, and I think that game gives me a lot of confidence to show what you can do in the NHL.”
“I thought he was fantastic all night; [he] just laid it on the line for us, his teammates,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of Stevenson’s debut. “His first start, to be put in that situation and playing in that game, I was really, really proud of the way that he fought, and how he competed and how he played. He was fantastic.”
Stevenson has an 18-8-4 record with a 2.94 goals-against average, an .888 save percentage, and two shutouts in 33 games with Hershey this season.
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