Capitals rookies take turns with top 12 forwards

PITTSBURGH — In the spotlight of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, some very new forwards are getting time on the ice.

Leave aside rookie Jakub Vrana for now. The Game 5 hero has played on all four lines this season and had the experience to rise to the occasion with two assists and a game-winning goal in Saturday’s 6-3 win.

But rookies like Shane Gersich, Travis Boyd and Nathan Walker all normally would be healthy scratches if the team were just that — healthy.

The Capitals entered the series healthier than the Penguins, with only Andre Burakovsky out week-to-week. But then Tom Wilson received a three-game suspension for an illegal check, which pressed Gersich into action on the fourth line.

In Game 5, Nicklas Backstrom sustained an upper-body injury and left early in the third period. Backstrom sat out the team’s Monday morning skate, and Travis Boyd stepped in to anchor the third line with Lars Eller pushed up to the second.

Before knowing Backstrom’s status for Game 6, longtime teammate Braden Holtby said the veteran had irreplaceable qualities, “but the thing is, we still have Travis Boyd.

“He’s stepped in, (he’s) a great center, a guy who doesn’t get a lot of time just because we’ve been a pretty healthy team up the middle,” Holtby said. “He’s a player, he can fill in and a lot of other guys can step up.”

Then there’s Walker, who practiced on the fourth line instead of Gersich at Monday’s skate. The first Australian to make an NHL roster spent the early weeks of the regular season with Washington, was waived and briefly claimed by Edmonton, before the Oilers also waived him.

The Capitals reclaimed Walker in December and recalled him from AHL affiliate Hershey in late April.

“If Walks is in, I expect him to be exactly what Nathan Walker is,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said after morning skate. “He has lots of energy, he has speed and he’s one of those all-in guys. He could give us a boost.”

Walker said he would try to keep his emotions in check if he got the nod from Trotz to play Game 6.

“We’ll see. It’s a huge, huge game, so if I’m in I’m just going to try to do my job out there and get the win,” Walker said.

Boyd has only played in one game since the calendar turned to April six weeks ago. To shake off the rust whenever he returns, he said he would seek to “get a hit or get hit” to get into the game mentally.

Gersich may be the odd man out for the time being, but he was sometimes the fastest player on the ice during Games 4 and 5 and put one shot on goal each game.

A franchise-record four different rookies have recorded a point for the Capitals this postseason. Vrana and Chandler Stephenson each have five, and defensemen Christian Djoos and Jakub Jerabek both have added one assist.

Even with Wilson’s impending return to the lineup making ice time harder to find, Walker, Boyd or Gersich could be the next rookie to add to that list.