Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin have done their usual preparation to call Tuesday’s Washington Capitals game against the St. Louis Blues: studying up on individual St. Louis players, preparing a flip card or, in Laughlin’s case, long pages of notes on legal pad paper.
But Tuesday’s broadcast will mark a first for both of them. NBC Sports Washington will air an “NHL 20” simulation of Capitals-Blues at 7 p.m., the same time those teams would have faced off in the District had the NHL season not been suspended.
The Capitals and the Washington Wizards are believed to be the first teams in the four major sports leagues to air video game simulations of previously scheduled games on their regional sports network.